f 




mt inpl §lationaI f «agu( 



OPINIONS OF PROMINENT MEN 



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EXPRESSED ir: THEIR LETTERS TO THE LOYAL NATIONAL 
LEAGUE, ON OCCASION OP 




laUt ^0gal §iiti<>wal ^t^pit. 



OPINIONS OF PROMINENT MEN 



CONCERNING 



EXPRESSED IN THEIR LETTERS TO THE LOYAL NATIONAL 
LEAGUE, ON OCCASION OP 

THE GREAT MASS MEETING OF THE LEAGUE 




AT UNION SQUAEE, NEW YORK, O 7 1 

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF SUMTER. 



FOK Account of SPEECHES, &o., ok This Occasion, see Full Kepoet of the Proceedings, 

IN Anothek Place. 



Nero l^ork : 

C. S. WESTCOTT & CO., PRINTERS, 
No. 79 John Street. 

1863. 



.Ll3C 



INVITATIONS TO DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS, 

REQUESTING THEM TO 

-ADDRESS THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE AND OTHER LOYAL 
CITIZENS, AT THE 

MASS MEEfflG H UMO^ SQUARE, 

New York, AprU Utli, 1863, 

THE SUMTER ANNIVERSARY; 

WITH REPLIES FROM MANY WHO WERE- THUS INVITED. 



(THE SPEECHES OF THOSE WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING ARE PRINTED 
IN ANOTHER PLACE.) 



(COPY OF THE INVITATION.) 

LOYAL NATIONAL LEAaUE. 

r* Ij E ID O E. 

"We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, hereby associate 
ourselves under the name and title of the Lotal National League. 

" We pledge ourselves to unconditional loyalty to the Government of 
the United States, to unw^avering support of its efforts to suppress the 
Rebellion, and to spare no endeavor to maintain unimpaired the National 
Unity, both in principle and territorial boundaiy. 

~" The primary object of this League is, and shall be, to bind together 
all loyal men, of all trades and professions, in a common union, to main- 
tain the power, glory, and integrity of the Nation." 



Hall of the League, 813 Broadway, 
New York, March 26th, 1863. 

Sir : The Loyal National League, associated under the pledge above, 
and which has been signed by thousands throughout this city and state, 
as well as in other loyal States, "will hold an inaugural Mass Meeting at 
Union Square, on Saturday, the 11th of April next (the anniversary of 
the day upon which the war upon the Government was begun in the bom- 
bardment of Fort Sumter), to renew to the Government and the People of 



the United States its solemn pledge and firm resolve that the unity of 
this nation shnll not be impaired either in principle or territorial boun- 
dary, and that the Government of our fathers shall be maintained." 

The Loyal National League has, from its first inception, held the 
hope that all the Leagues throughout the country would affiliate under this 
simple pledge, and delegates from all similar organizations have been invi- 
ted to attend this meeting. 

You are respectfully requested to address this meeting, which will be 
national in character as in name, or, if your engagements be such as to 
prevent your active participation, to favor it with the expression of your 
views, to make a part of the ceremony of the day, an account of which 
will be published. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, 

Secketaey of the League, 

94 Maiden Lane, Neiu York. 



COUNCIL OF T"WENTY-FrVE, 



GEOKGE OPDYKE, WILLIAM CURTIS NOYES, 

CHARLES KING, MORRIS KETCHUM, 

JOHN A. STEVENS, SETH B. HUNT, 
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, E. CAYLUS, 

JOHN C. GREEN, MOSES TAYLOR, 

A. T. STEWART, CHARLES BUTLER, 

FRANCIS LIEBER, FRANCIS B. CUTTING, 
WILLIAM E. DODGE, 



ROBERT BAYARD, 
JOHN J. CISCO, 
C. V. S. ROOSEVELT, 
FRANCIS G. SHAW, 
CHARLES A. HECKSCHER, 
W. H. WEBB, 
WILLIAM F. GARY, 
JAMES MoKAYE. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF TWEI^TY-FIVE. 



GEORGE GRISWOLD, 
JOHN COCHRANE, 
FRANKLIN H. DELANO, 
J, BUTLER WRIGHT, 
GEORGE CABOT WARD, 
JOHN JAY, 
ISAAC H. BAILEY, 
WILLIAM A. HALL, 



HUGO WESENDONCK, 
WILLIAM T. BLODGETT, 
PA.RKE GODWIN, 
ADRIAN ISELIN, 
SIDNEY HOWARD GAY, 
ROBERT B. MINTURN, Jr., 
JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, 



ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY, 
THOMAS N. DALE, 
JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS, Jr., 
WILLIAM E. DODGE, Jr., 
WILLIAM ORTON, 
WOLCOTT* GIBBS, 
C. E. DETMOLD, 



CHARLES ASTOR BRISTED, GEORGE P. PUTNAM. 



LIST OF PEESONS INVITED TO SPEAK. 



THE PRESIDENT of the United States. 
THE VICE-PRESIDENT of the United States. 
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 
S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretaiy of War. 

" GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. 

" JOHN P. USHER, Secretary of the Interior. 

" MONTGOMERY BLAIR, Postmaster-General. 

" EDWARD BATES, Attorney-General. 



Governor Tod, of Ohio, 

" Blair, of Michigan, 
" Morton, of Indiana, 
" Yates, of Illinois, 
" Kirkwood, of Iowa, 
" Kamsey, of Minnesota, 
" Salomon, of Wisconsin, 
" Johnson, of Tennessee, 
" Robinson, of Kentucky, 
" Buckingham, of Connec't, 
" Bradford, of Maryland, 
" Pierpont, of Virginia, 
" Cannon, of Delaware, 
" Coburn, of Maine, 
" Andrew, of Massachusetts, 
" Seymour, of New York. 
" Curtin, of Pennsylvania, 
Hon. E. D. Morgan, 

Ira Harris, 

William Pitt Fessenden, 

Lott Morrill, 

John P. Hale, 

Daniel Clark, 

Jacob CoUamer, 

Solomon Foote, 

Charles Sumner, 

Henry Wilson, 

H. B. Anthony, 

William Sprague, 

L. S. Foster, 

James Dixon, 

John C. Teneyck, 



Hon. Richard S. Field, 

" David Wilmot, 

" Edgar Cowan, 

'' John Sherman, 

" Benj. F. Wade, 

" Zachariah Chandler, 

" Jacob M. Howard, 

" Lyman Trumbull, 

" Joel Parker, 

" J. W. Grimes, 

" Jolin J. Crittenden, 

" James R. Doolittle, 

" Henry M. Rice, 

" M. S. Wilkinson, 

" J. B. Henderson, 

" Joseph A. Wright, 

" Galusha A. Grow, 

" Edward Everett, 

" John A. Kmg, 

" Joseph Holt, 

" Lyman Tremain, 

" John K. Porter, 

" James Guthrie, 

" George G. Wright, 

" Henry R. Selden, 

" Roscoe Conkling, 

" Henry L. Davis, 

" Elisha B. Washburne, 

" David K. Carter, 

" Horace Binuey, 

" George Bancroft, 

" Hiram Walbridge, 



Hon. Francis B. Cutting, 

" Josiali Ivvinw, 

" H. R. Lo^A', ^ 

" James T. Smith, 

" Henry "W. Rodgers, 

" John L. Talcott, 

" Samuel Treat, 

" James Wads worth, 

'' Henry Winter Davis, 

" J. X." Arnold, 

" Francis S. Blair, Sr., 

" Moses F.Odell, 

" Daniel S. Dickinson, 

" Edward Haight, 

" Frederick A. Coukling, 

" Owen Lovejoy, 

" Schuyler Colfax, 

" John E. Porter, 

" Preston King, 

" George W. Julian, 

" James Hum])hrey, 

" Eobert Dale Owen, 
Admiral Andrew H. Foote, 

" Hiram Paulding, 
Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott, 
Maj.-Gen. John 0. Fremont, 
'• John E. Wool, 
" Franz Sigel, 
" John A. Dix, 
» James S. Wadsworth, 
" Joseph Hooker, 
«'• George B. McClellan, 
« Hem-y W. Halleck, 
" David Hunter, 
«' Benj. F. Butler, 
" Ambrose E. Burnside, 
" George G. Meade. 
" Silas Casey, 
" John G. Parke, 
" George Stoneman, 
" I. W! McDowell, 
" William S. E-osecrans, 
« John F. E^ynolds, 
Brig. Gen. John Cochrane, 
""" Lewis Wallace, 
" Carl Schurz, 
" A. J. Hamilton, of Tex. 
" Eobert Anderson, 
Colonel Delaiield, 
His Grace Abp. Hughes, of X. Y 
Eev. Francis Vinton, 



Eev. Alex. H. Vinton, 

" E. D. Hitchcock, 

" Henry Ward Beecher, 

" Henrv W. Bellows, 

" W. G. Brownlow, 

'' J. P. Thompson, 

'' Eudolph Dulon, 

" S. S. Cook, 

" John Cotton Smith, 

" Steiihen H. Tvng, 

" A. C. Coxe, 

" Samuel Osgood, 

" O. B. Frothingham, 
" S. H. Cox, 

" William Adams, 

" Thomas E. Vermilye, 

" Eobert S. Breckinridge, 

Judge Charles P. Daly, 
** Amasa J. Parker, 
" Murrav Hoffman, 
" William Mitchell, 
" J. W. White, 

Prof. A. D. Bache, . 

Mr. William Allen Butler, 

" George William Curtis, 

" David Dudley Field, 

" George D. Prentice, 

" William M. Evarts, 

" W. J. A. Fuller, 

" William Cartis iSToyes, 

" Charles King, 

" Fredei-ick Kapp, 

" Charles P. Kirkland, 

" Orestes A. Brownson, 

" James A. Briggs, 

" George Gibbs, 

" S. B. Chittenden, 

" Geo. W. Chinton, 

" Timothy Parsons, 

" David S. Coddiugton," 

" John Van Buren, 

'• James T. Brady, 

" Will Van Gersnbach, 

" Charles J. Stille, 

" E. X. Dickerson, 

" Charles E. Norton, 

" James A. Hamilton, 

" William Callen Bryant, 

" Henry J. Raymond, 

" Parke Godwin. 



INDEX 

TO THE LETTEES OF REPLY. 



PAGE. 

Letter from Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State 9 

" S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury 10 

' ' Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy 11 

" J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior 11 

'• Lot M. Morrell, United States Senator from Maine- 12 

" John Sherman, " " Ohio 13 

" Charles Sumner, " " Massachusetts 13 

" H. B. Anthony, " " Ehode Island 14 

Telegram from William Sprague, " " Khode Island l-i 

Letter from Josiah Quincj^, of Massachusetts 15 

" A. W. Bradford, Governor of Maryland 16 

" William Cannon, Governor of Delaware 16 

•• William C. Cozzens, Governor of Rhode Island 17 

" David Tod, Governor of Ohio 18 

" Edward Salomon, Governor of Wisconsin 19 

' ' Samuel V. Kirkwood, Governor of Iowa 20 

" Alexander Ramsey, Governor of Minnesota 20 

" Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, Representative from Illinois 21 

" " Edward Haight, " New York. 21 

" " H. L. Dawes, ' ' Massachusetts 22 

" Wiufield Scott, Lieutenant-General U. S. A 23 

" H. W. Halleck, Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United States. . . 23 

'' Joseph Hooker, Major-General U. S. A 23 

" Irvin McDowell, Major-General U. S. A 24 

' ' George Stoneman, Major-General U. S. A 25 

" George G. Meade, Major-General U. S. A 25 

" John A. Dix, Major-General U. S. A 26 

" Silas Casey, Major-General U. S. A 29 

" John F. RejTiolds, Major-General U. S. A 29 

" John E. Wool, Major-General U. S. A 30 

" Carl Schurz, Major-General U. S. A 30 

'• James S. Wadsworlh, Brigadier-General U. S. A 30 

" Admiral Hiram Paulduig, U. S. N 31 

" A. D. Bache, Esq., U. S. Coast Survey 32 

" Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton 32 

" " Thomas E Vermilye 36 

" " 0. B. Frothingham 37 

" " Samuel Hanson Cox 38 



8 

PAGE. 

Letter from Rev. Benjamin W. Dwight 39 

" " J.T.Durj-ea 39- 

" " A.H.Vinton 40 

" " Stephen H. Tyng 41 

" " Josepli P. Thompson 41 

•' " Orestes A. Brownsou 42 

" " Samuel Coolve 42 

" Hon. Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana 43 

" " Lj'man Tremain, of New York 44 

" " Lorenzo Sherwood, late of Texas 46 

" "J, I. Clark Hare, of Philadelphia 49 

" " James Wadsworth, of Xew York 49 

" " Murray Hoffman, of New York : 60 

" " James W. White, of New York 50 

" James T. Brady, Esq., of New York 51 

" Hon. Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland 51 

" " John K. Porter ■. 52 

" " J. G. Potts, New Jersey 52 

" " Henry M. Rice, of Minnesota 53 

" " ThomasCamey, of Kansas 54 

" " James Y. Smith, of Rhode Island 54 

" Richard H, Dana, Jr., Esq., of Boston . 55 

" Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes 55 

" Charles Eliot Norton, Esq., of Cambridge, Massachusetts 56 

" William Curtis Noj-es, Esq., of New York 57 

" James A. Hamilton, Esq., of New York 57 

" Capt. Cornelius Curtis, of Ke^^ AYest, Florida 60 

" Henry W. Rogers, Esq., of Buffalo 60 

" John G. Whittier, Esq.. of Massachusetts 61 

RESPONSES OF LEAGUES. 

Connecticut to the League 61 

Massachusetts to the Loyal League 61 

From the League at Rochester 62 

From the Union Club, of Boston 63 

Delegation from Philadelphia Loyal League 63 

NATIONAL SONGS AND ODES, WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION. 

Letter and Song of Alfred B. Street, Esq 65 

Poem, by Mrs. Bradford 67 

Song, by George H. Boker, Esq 70 

Ode by William Ross Wallace, Esq .... 71 



'I 



REPLIES, 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE COUNCIL AND EXECUTIYE 
COMMITTEE. 



LETTER OF THE HON. WM. H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF STATE OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 

Department of State, i 
Washington, April Zd, 1863. J 

My dear Sir : 1 regret that I cannot attend the Loyal National League, at 
their inaugural mass meeting, to be held on the 11th of April, to which you 
have invited me. But I respectfully urge upon those who shall fortunately be 
able to be there, vigilance, energy, and, above all things, unanimity and concert. 
When that excellent patriot, Gov. Wright, of Indiana, told me that he was 
going to Philadelphia to attend a Union League, and asked what he should 
say to the League for me, " Tell them," I said, "To put my name down on 
their roll.'" He replied: "But there are two Union Leagues there ; the one 
thinks this, and is gotten up under such and such auspices ; the other thinks 
that, and is organized by So-and-So. In which of the two will you be en- 
rolled ?" " In both of them," was my reply. We are now at the crisis of a 
revolutionary contest which involves nothing less than the transcendental 
question whether this unconquerable and irresistible nation shall suddenly perish 
tlu'ough imbecility, after a successfnl and glorious existence of eighty years, or 
whether it shall survive a thousand years, diffusing light, liberty, and happi- 
ness, throughout the world. Our armies are moving on with a step firmer 
than those of the Roman Empire or the French Republic ever maintained. 
Our fleets have surpassed in achievements those of any previous national 
power. Our credit is conquering interested avarice at home, and defying inter- 
ested conspiracies abroad. All that remains now is to lift the national 
temper to the needful height, and fortify to the point of inflexibility the 
national resolution, so that we shall agree to tolerate no treason at home, 
and repel any and evex-y intervention, seduction, or aggression from abroad. 
In order to do this, let us, in our Leagues, ask each other no questions 
about the past. Of what importance is it to our country now, whether a pa- 
triot citizen has been a Democrat, or a Whig, or Republican, or Conservative, 
or Radical heretofore ? Who can say that he himself has never erred, or that 
his neighbor was not sometimes wiser than himself on questions of adminis- 
tration that have passed away forever ? Let us ask each other no questions 
about how the nation shall govern itself, or who shall preside in its councils in 
the great future that looms up before us, enveloped alternately in menacing 
clouds and in gorgeous sunlight. Let whoever may deserve the distinction by 
loyalty and energetic service now, come into place and power when this crisis 
is passed; and let those who shall have survived it decide for themselves who is 
most wise and most worthy of their confidence. 

Let us save the country; that is labor enough, and it will be glory enough 



10 

for all of the actors of the present hour. It will eclipse even the greatness of 
our honored forefathers. It will leave us nothing to fear for our posterity. 
I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

James A. Eoosevelt, Esq., Secretary, j-c., 

No. 94 Maiden Lane, New York. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. S. P. CHASE, SECRETARY OF THE 

TREASURY. 

Washington, April 9, 1863. 

Gentlemen : Imperative demands on my time compel me to deny myself 
the gratification of attending the meeting to which you kindly invite me. 

You will meet to send words of cheer to our brave generals and soldiers in 
the field ; to rebuke treason in our midst, giving, in the gai-b of peace, aid and 
comfort to treason in the panoply of war; to maintain inviolate the integrity 
of the national territory and the supremacy of the national Constitution and 
laws ; to strengthen the hands and nerve the heart of the President for the 
great work to which God and the people have called him. For what worthier 
purposes can American citizens now assemble ? 

It is my fixed faith, gentlemen, that God does not mean that this American 
republic shall perish. We are tried as by fire, but our country will live. 
Notwithstanding all the violence and all the machinations of traitors and their 
sympathizers, on this or the other side of the Atlantic, our country will live. 

And while our country lives, slavery, the chief source, and cause, and agent 
of our ills, will die. The friends of the Union in the South, before rebellion, 
predicted the destruction of slavery as a consequence of secession, if that mad- 
ness should prevail. Nothing, in my judgment, is more certain than the ful- 
filment of these predictions. Safe in the states, before rebellion, from all 
federal interference, slavery has come out from its shelter, under state con- 
stitutions and laws, to assail the national life. It will surely die, pierced by its 
own fangs and stings. 

What matter now how it dies ? Whether as a consequence or object of the 
the war, what matter ? Is this a time to split hairs of logic ? To me it seems 
that Providence indicated clearly enough how the end of slavery must come. 
It comes in rebel slave states by military order, decree, or proclamation ; not 
to be disregarded or set aside in any event as a nullity, but maintained and 
executed with perfect good fiiith to all the enfranchised ; and it will come in 
loyal slave states by the unconstrained action of the people and their legisla- 
tures, aided freely and generously by tlieir brethren of the free states. I may 
be mistaken in this, but if I am another better way will be revealed. 

Meantime it seems to me very necessary to say distinctly what many yet 
shrink from saying. The American blacks must be called into this conflict, 
not as cattle, not now, even, as contrabands, but as men. In the free states, 
and, by the proclamation, in the rebel states, they are free men. The Attor- 
ney-General, in an opinion which defies refutation, has pronounced these free- 
men citizens of the United States. Let, then, the example of Andrew Jackson, 
who did not hesitate to oppose colored regiments to British invasion, be now 
fearlessly followed. Let these blacks, acclimated, familiar with the country, 
capable of great endurance, receive suitable military organization and do their 
part. We need their good-will, and must make them our friends by showing 
ourselves their friends. We must have them for guides, for scouts, for all 
military service in camp or field for Avhich they are qualified. Thus em- 
ployed, from a burden they will become a support, and the hazards, privations, 
and labors of the white soldiers will be proportionally diminished. 



11 

Some will object, of course. There are always objectors to everything prac- 
tical. Let experience dispel honest fears, and refute captious or disloyal cavil. 

Above all, gentlemen, let no doubt rest on our resolution to sustain, with all 
our hearts and with all our means, the soldiers now in arms for the republic. 
Let their ranks be filled up ; let their supplies be sufficient and regular ; let 
their pay be sure. Let nothing be wanting to them which can insure activity 
and efficiency. Let each brave officer and man realize that his country's love 
attends him, and that his country's hopes hang upon him ; and, inspired by 
this thought, let him dare and do all that is possible to be dared and done. 

So, gentlemen, with the blessing of God, will we make a glorious future sure. 
I see it rising before me — how beautiful and grand ! There is not time to 
speak of it now ; but from all quarters of the land comes the voice of the sover- 
eign people, rebuking- faction, denouncing treason, and proclaiming the indi- 
visible unity of the republic; and in this Heaven-inspired union of the people, 
for the sake of the Union, is the sure promise of that splendid hereafter. 
With great respect, yours very truly, 

S. P. CHASE. 

Hou. George Opdyke, George Griswold, Esq., and others, 

Committee of the Loyal Union League, New York. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. GIDEON WELLES, SECRETARY OF 
THE NAVY. 

Washington, April 10, 1863. 

Sir : I am honored by your invitation to be present at the inaugural mass 
meeting of the Loyal National League at Union Square to morrow, the anni- 
versary of the day when the firing commenced on Fort Sumter, to renew the 
solemn pledge and firm resolve that the unity of the nation shall not be im- 
paired, and that the government of our fathers shall be maintained. It will 
not be in my power to attend your meeting, but my heart will be with you. 
There are no higher earthly obligations than the preservation and perpetua- 
tion of the Constitution under which we live, and the Union that our fathers 
formed, both of which were assailed by traitors at Charleston on the 11th of 
April, 1861. Two years of causeless and embittered warfare against the most 
beneficent government which man has ever enjoyed, so far from weakening our 
efi"orts or exhausting our energies, only render more obligatory upon us the 
maintenance of the Union in its integrity, now and forever, with all the vigor 
we possess, and by all the means which God and nature have placed at our 
disposal. For one, I am, irrespective of all past party diflFerences or associa- 
tions, the friend of every man who supports the Union, and the enemy of all 
who oppose ]\ or who sympathize or fellowship with the traitors who oppose 
it. Such, I doubt not, are the object and purpose of the Loyal National 
League, and as such it has my best wishes for its success. 

Very respectfully, 

GIDEON WELLES. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Sec'y of the League. 



LETTER OF HON. J. P. USHER, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 

Department of the Interior 1 
Washington, D. C, April 10, 1863. } 
Sir: I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of your favor of the 
26th of last month, wishing me to attend and address the mass meeting to be 
held at Union Square, in the city of New York, under the auspices of the 
Loyal National League of that city. 

The purpose of the League being to render to the government an unwayer- 



12 

ing support in its efforts to suppress the rebellion, and to spare no endeavor to 
maintain the national unity unimpaired, both in principle and territorial boun- 
dary, must find a hearty response in the breast of every loyal man. 

While it is a matter of great satisfaction to all patriotic men, that those who 
league together for the maintenance of the government do not find it necessary 
to uphold this organization by_ imposing upon their members secret oaths and 
obligations of any character, it is a cause of profound regret and just alarm to 
all patriots, that there exist among us secret societies and organizations, the 
members of which are bound to each other by unlawful oaths, of such wicked 
and criminal character that, when called to testify in courts of justice, they 
refuse, and shield themselves under the law, which declares that no one shall 
be compelled to accuse himself oi felony. Had my official duties here per- 
mitted, it would have afforded me great satisfaction to meet the thousands upon 
thousands of loyal and Union-loving men of my native state in your great 
city, and with them renew our unalterable devotion to the national unity, and 
join in fresh pledges for its preservation. 

I have the honor to be, faithfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

J. P. USHER. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the Loyal National League, New York. 



LETTER OF LOT N. MORRELL, U. S. SENATOR FROM MAINE. 

Augusta, April 7, 1863. 

Dear Sir: I am honored in the receipt of your favor, in which I am 
invited, on behalf of the " Loyal National League," to be present at the Mass 
Meeting at Union Square, on the 11th inst. Concurring most cordially in 
its objects, 1 regret my inability to be present. In this day of peril 
to our common country every patriot heart must, I am sure, sympa- 
thize with these objects — that of binding together all loyal men of all 
trades and professions in a common union to maintain the power, glory, and 
integrity of the nation. Pitiable indeed is that man's insensibility, whose pulse 
does not quicken at the mention of these high purposes. May the inaugura- 
tion of the "Loyal National League," on the anniversary of the day upon which 
war upon the government was begun at Fort Sumter, incite an overwhelming 
moral conviction of the nation, which shall give to the day the significance of 
Doomsday to the domestic enemies of the country ! 

The 11th day of April, 1861, is destined, I do not doubt, to find its his- 
toric parallel in another day of an eventful period in our history, that of 
the 27th day of May, 1754. On this latter day, we are told by the great 
American historian, that Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, at the forks of the 
Ohio, afterward named Fort Duquesne, at the head of one hundred and fifty 
followers, loyal to the English possessions in the Western World, repelled by 
fqrce of arms the assault of France upon an English fort, and thus began the 
battle which was to banish from the soil of our republic the institutions of the 
Middle Ages, and waked a struggle which was to continue until the cause of 
feudalism and despotism was overthrown. The malignant assault upon Fort 
Sumter was the signal also for a conflict, long impending between not essen- 
tially dissimilar forces, and which admits of no truce until popular power and 
freedom are triumphant. 

The nation's extremity is the nation's opportunity. It has not the guilt of 
insanely precipitating events ; it must not be obnoxious to the folly and mad- 
ness of not conducting to a prosperous conclusion what was inauspiciously and 
treacherously begun. 

In such an hour of our history, of domestic conspiracy against " the uational 



13 

life," armed rebellion against the supreme authority, the turbulence and anar- 
chy of secession, confederacy of the enemies of popular government, it is felt 
that all loyal men, everywhere, should renew their plighted vows to their com- 
mon country — that they should strive to enter fully into the spirit of the august 
founders of American liberty ; and following: their example, and endeavoring 
to preserve and perpetuate what they, for the welfare of mankind, so earnestly 
began, pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, in its mainten- 
ance. Very respectfully yours, 

LOT M. MORRELL. 
James A. Roosevelt, Secretary, jx. 



LETTER OF HON. JOHN SHERMAN, U. S. SENATOR FROM OHIO. 

Mansfield, Ohio, f 
April 6, 1863. f 
Sir : I regret that other duties will not allow me to attend the proposed 
meeting of the " Loyal National League." Most heartily do I approve of your 
declaration "that the unity of this nation shall not be impaired.'^ I want no 
other platform. I will subscribe to no other creed until all the enemies of the 
Union are overthrown. I will regard every man as a political friend who will 
only heartily act upon this sentiment, whatever may be his opinion as to the 
best means to be used for that object. The deep and strong feeling of patriot- 
ism now showing itself in every part of the loyal states, gives me full confi- 
dence that the purpose of the League will surely be attained. 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN SHERMAN. 
Jab. A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secy, Sfc. 



LETTER OF THE HON. CHARLES SUMNER, U. S. SENATOR 
FROM MASSACHUSETTS. 

Washington, 9/A April, 1863. 

Dear Sir : It will not be in my power to mingle with the patriotic voices 
which you will bring together on the Anniversary of the assault on Fort Sum- 
ter; but could my desires prevail, these voices, pleading for country and civ- 
ilization, should swell in volume and power, until the whole land is filled with 
their chorus, and the people everywhere glow with irresistible faith and cour- 
age. 

The assault on Fort Sumter is one of the most important events of history. 
But its true character is not always recognized. It Avas a challenge flung down 
by slavery to the civilization of the nineteenth century. Of course it was defi- 
ant, wicked, barbarous. No robber knight on land, no pirate on the sea, 
ever more completely became the enemy of the humayi race. As such, our gov- 
ernment was bound to instant warfare with it; and in this enterprise of hu- 
manity, it was entitled to the sympathy and God-speed of all Christian nations. 
Unhappily, they have stood aloof or have taken sides with the barbarism. But 
our duty is none the less plain and constant, while the glory is greater. 

Studiously observant of all the constitutional safeguards claimed for slavery, 
and always recognizing its absolute immunity within the states, I had never 
supposed that it could be reached except within the exclusive jurisdiction of 
the national government, nor had any ardor of antipathy ever led me to any 
proposition inconsistent with this idea. But the assault on Fort Sumter 
changed all this Slavery became militant, and from this moment all its pre- 
tensions were subjected to the hazards of war. Slavery took the sword, and. 



14 

surely in this case, there can be no exception to the rule that he who takes the 
sword shall perish by the sword. Let it perish, then, and the Divine law be 
vindicated. . 

But this assault was something more than a challenge to civilization. It was 
in its front a challenge, but in its reverse an Act of Emancipation. The rebels 
acted " wiser than they knew," and their blazing batteries were more than 
words. They were a proclamation, whose parchment was the firmament^ whose 
letters were cannon-balls, and whose seal was fire ; and this proclamation was 
executed with all mankind for witnesses. Then and there the doom of slavery 
was fixed. The later declaration of the President only registered in words 
what the rebel batteries had proclaimed. 

But, whether regarded as challenge or as proclamation, we have only to go 
forward and crush the rebellion. In this way will the impudent challenge be 
answered, and, at the same time, the proclamation be upheld. 

Believe me, my dear sir. 

Very faithfully yours, 

CHARLES SUMNER. 

Jas. a, Roosevelt, Secretary, Sfc. 



LETTER OF GOV. ANTHONY, OF RHODE ISLAND. 

Providence, April 8, 1863. 
" Sir : I have your invitation to attend the inaugural mass meeting on the 11th 
inst. I regret that my engagements will not permit me to participate in this 
great patriotic demonstration, of the importance and value of which I have a 
high estimate. 

It is eminently proper that loyal men of every political faith should unite m 
the common defence of the government. 

History will scarcely credit the fact that while the nation was strugghng 
with this gigantic rebellion, men could be found,^ not singly, but banded in 
political organization, to oppose every measure which those to whom the peo- 
ple had intrusted the government had deemed necessary for its preservation ; 
and that at a time when the whole energy of the administration was needed 
against the rebellion, the constituted authorities were embarrassed and weak- 
ened by the necessity of guarding against treason at the north. 

But if this treason makes the labors of loyal men more severe, it makes their 
duty plainer, and makes the glory of an eventual triumph greater. For we 
shall triumph in the end, and the men who are attempting to degrade the gov- 
ernment, and to disgrace our arms, will sink to an infamy which shall cause 
them to envy the fame of Benedict Arnold, and shall make their children deny 
their names. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your ob't servant, 

H. B. ANTHONY. 

Jas. a. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Sec^y Loyal National League. 

TELEGRAM FROM EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM SPRAGUE, U. S. 
SENATOR FROM RHODE ISLAND. 

Providence, April 11, 1863. 
I regret I cannot be with you to-day. You have my " God-speed" in your 
efforts to unite and stimulate the people in supporting the government. Let 
us all be banded together in one great brotherhood for the defence of our sa- 
cred inheritance, now ieopardized by treason and its abettors. 

•' WM. SPRAGUE. 

Jno. Austin Stevens, Jr., Chairman, Sfc. 



.15 

AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF THE VENERABLE JOSIAH QUINCY. 

Boston, April 14, 1863. 

Sir: Your favor of the 3d inst., written "for the Committee of the Loyal 
National League," and requesting, in case of inabilit}' to attend, that I would 
"address to the meeting, to be held on the 11th of April, a few words to en- 
courage them in the loyal effort now making to invigorate public sentiment 
and public courage," was not received by me until that day, and too late either 
to respond to that request or to even acknowledge its receipt. 

Be assured, sir, that a request of such a nature, from such a committee, on 
such an occasion, was an honor too flattering not to impi'ess itself deeply on 
my heart, and to excite into the desire of action what yet remains of patriotic 
heat under the ashes heaped upon it by old age ; and though prevented on this 
occasion, I yet hope, sooner or later, if life and mind be spared, in some form 
to respond to the request, the expression of which does me so much honor. 

It is, indeed, possible that the extended circumstances of my life may enable 
me to throw some light on the present period, the events of which were not 
wholly unanticipated by the gi-eat minds which constructed the Constitution 
of the United States, and who realized the inconsistent elements of which those 
subjected to it were opposed. The impossibility of a long-continued harmoni- 
ous action oifive slave oligarchies and of eight independent free democracies ^&s 
as well understood by those great minds then as at this day. They acceded to 
the Constitution as the best form of government it was possible to have effected 
under the circumstances of the time ; but they never considered it either as a 
perpetuity or of long continuance. In the year 1802, at New York, Alexander 
Hamilton, in reply to my inquiry, " How long the founders of the Constitu- 
tion anticipated its continuance ?" answered, "Thirty or forty years." Nor 
would it have continued longer than that time, had not the representatives of 
the slave oligarchies found by experience that they could control the interests 
of the free states by the influence of the leaders of the democracies of those 
states, of whom John Randolph said, sarcastically and exultiugly, the "South 
was as sure as of their own negroes." The subsequent long continuance of the 
slave states under the Constitution was partly from a perception of their power 
to control the Union, and perpetually to make it subservient to their projects 
of multiplying slave states, and thus enlarging slave dominion, and iuoreasino- 
the chances of its perpetuity. For, after New York, under the lead of Aaron 
Burr, had placed Thomas Jefferson in the United States President's chair, and 
he had assumed the power which he publicly acknowledged he did not of right 
possess, of admitting Louisiana into the Union without an appeal to the people 
or the States, the slave oligarchies realized their power to plant slavery per- 
manently and extensively in the Southwest. From that moment the aggrand- 
izement of the slave power became the master passion of the leaders of the 
slave oligarchies. All disbelief of the evils of slavery was discarded from their 
creed, and the belief of its benefits, its blessings, and its power became publicly 
inculcated and of universal belief, in a manner, if not in fact: for slavei-y, lik 

" Vice, is a monster of such frightful mien, 
That, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
We first endure — then pity — then embrace." 

But I had no intention to enter upon any discussion of familiar topics in com 
mencing this letter, but only to express my sense of the honor conferred upon 
me by your Committee, and my desire, if possible, in some form to respond 
to it. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 



16 

LETTEK OF A. W. BRADFORD, GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND. 

State of Maryland, Executive Department, ) 
Annapolis, April 3d, 1863. ) 

Dear Sir : I have received the invitation with which you have honored me, 
to attend and address a mass meeting you propose to hold in New York, on 
the 11th inst., to inaugurate the Loyal National League. If my engagements 
here would permit, I should take great pleasure in attending such a meeting. 
I fear, however, it will be impossible for me to do so. 

We have watched, with much anxiety, for some time past, the course of 
political events in the Loyal States, and none with more solicitude than such 
movements in the North. A few months since, some of our friends occasion- 
ally felt discouraged by the apparent tendency of these events, whilst our 
enemies were evidently disposed to regard them as betokening an abatement 
of that ardent spirit with which the entire North had heretofore responded to 
the national call. It always, however, seemed to me, that the great and vital 
questions of the day were only for a time overlooked, by reason of the side 
issues which partisan leaders had ingeniously succeeded in creating. 

Whenever political parties, marshalled under ancient organizations, are 
struggling for ascendency, we may expect that the old associations connected 
with them will exert their wonted influence. Their effect, however, is neces- 
sarily transient, for when their special occasions have passed, and when there 
stands out in bold relief a great, obvious, paramount, and patriotic duty to be 

Eerformed, we may safely trust the instincts of the people rightly to appre- 
end it ; and rest assured that no partisan, still less any treasonable influence, 
will ever prevent them from discharging it. 

I am most happy to see, by all the recent indications, that public sentiment 
in your great state is satisfactorily responding to this reasonable expectation. 
and nothing is better calculated to foster this national spirit than the formation 
of such Leagues as you are about to inaugurate. Similar ones, extensively 
patronized, have existed in our state for a year past, and with their assistance 
we trust and believe we have here a national party that knows no subdivisions. 

I like the simplicity of your pledge, and the singleness of the purpose it 
avows : " Unconditional loyalty to the government, and an unwavering support 
of its efforts to suppress the rebellion." Let that single and determined pur- 
pose be the guiding spirit of every movement against the rebels^ and their 
early overthrow is beyond peradventure. It has been their earnest unity of 
purpose that has always afforded them their only obvious advantage. 

When we shall profit by that example, and foi-getful, of past political differ- 
ences and ignoring all other objects or organizations, shall know nothing, for 
the time being, but the American nation, its unity and its perpetuity, we shall 
impart to our gallant armies a marching order that will carry them further 
and faster into the heart of this rebellion than they have ever marched before. 

With my best wishes for the rapid increase of your association, and perfect 
faith in its salutary influence, 

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

A. W. BRADFORD. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary Loyal National League, Sfc. 



LETTER OF GOV. CANNON, OF DELAWARE. 

Dover, Delaware, April 8, 1863. 

Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter in- 
viting me to be present at the Mass Meeting to be held on the 11th inst., in 



17 

Union Square, to inaugurate the " Loyal National League.'' I regret that en- 
gagements of an official nature will probably prevent my attendance. Mean- 
time permit me to assure you that my warmest sympathies are with your 
movement. In this struggle for the unity, the perpetuity of the nation, all 
minor difFerences should be reconciled, and all subordinate questions post- 
poned. This is no time to cavil at the measures of the administration. The 
question now is, not how the government shall be administered, but whether it 
shall exist. After the rebellion shall have been suppressed, and the National 
Life saved, it will be. time enough for loyal men to resolve themselves into po- 
litical parties, and at the ballot-box settle their disputes concerning the mode 
of its conduction. 

I will enter into no discussion of the causes of the rebellion. Upon the ad- 
•ministraiion is devolved the duty of preserving the national existence. All 
good citizens should lend their aid to the prosecution of the war with energy. 
The work should be done thoroughly, and so that complete security should 
be exacted for the future peace of the republic. Anything that contributes to 
the maintenance of the public enemy is rightfully the object of attack and de- 
struction. If it be armed men, they should perish ; if slavery, it should be 
extinguished. When the question is between slavery without a government 
and a government without slavery, no loyal man should hesitate. Those who 
are in arms for the destruction of the Union, have no right to invoke the Con- 
stitution as their protection against the consequences of their own criminality. 
Nor do I appreciate the wisdom of those who expect to find in its literal pro- 
visions specific rules for the suppression of the rebellion. The Constitution 
was made primarily for the government of a nation in peace. It invested the 
President with the command of the army and navy, and made him responsible 
for the enforcement of the laws. 

The mode of conducting the war is discretionary, and limited only by the 
exigency of the occasion and the usage of civilized nations. The end is the 
preservation of the Union — the highest law, the safety of the republic — the true 
rule, how we can do the most damage to the enemy with the least loss to our- 
selves. 

As the Executive of this state, -which has always been loyal, though some of 
its citizens are in sympathy with treason, it shall be my pleasure, as it is my 
duty, to co-operate with loyal men everywhere to maintain the authority of 
the National Government unimpaired, the territorial extent of our country un- 
diminished, and the right of the people, by their legally expressed will, to gov- 
ern themselves unabridged. 

I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM CANNON. 
To John A. Stevens, Jr., Esq. 



LETTER OF GOV. COZZENS, OF RHODE ISLAND. 

State of Rhode Island, Executive Department, ) 
Newport, April 8, 1863. j 

Sir: Your circular is received, submitting the pledge of the Loyal Na- 
tional Letigue. established in New York, proposing an inauguration mass meet- 
ing, to be held at Union Square, in that city, on Saturday, April 11th, 1863, 
representing that it will be national in character, as in name, and requesting 
me, in niy official capacity, to address the meeting at that time, or favor it with 
an expression of my views. As it will not be convenient to be present on that 
occasion, I will take ibis method to testify my hearty approval of the proposed 
object of this association — to maintain unimpaired and undiminished the nation's 

2 



18 

unity and boundary — binding us together in a common effort to preserve the 
glory and integrity of this once prosperous republic. There is no more respon- 
sible position for the American citizen than this. May we not hope that all will 
unite in simple honesty for such a splendid purpose, divested of every secret, 
partisan, or selfish consideration. 

The state which I have the honor to represent has never ceased to labor for 
the preservation of the Union and the Constitution. When, at the first sound 
of war and cry of danger, my young and valiant predecessor, Gov. Sprague, 
with Burnside (now one of the nation's chieftains) as his colonel, led the gal- 
lant army of Rhode Island to the defence of the nation's capital — from that 
time forward Rhode Island has been foremost in every effort to break this wick- 
ed rebellion, and aid in every effort to restore her country's peace, prosperity, 
and honor. Small as our state is in comparison with others, she is big in heart. 
"We stand to-day thousands ahead of our quota in the army and navy of our 
country, and with heroic valor will we ever defend this glorious Union from 
invasion, separation, or destruction. 

Wishing every success to an object intended for so much good, 
I have the honor to remain. 

Your obed't serv't, 

WM. C. COZZENS, Governor. 
To James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the Loyal National League, New York. 



LETTER OF GOVERNOR DAVID TOD, OF OHIO. 

The State of Ohio, Executive Department, ) 
Columbus, April 3, 1863. j 

Dear Sir: Official duties will prevent an acceptance of your invitation to 
attend the inaugural mass meeting at Union Square, on the 11th inst. 

As I cannot be present, to make known to the people who may assemble on 
that occasion, the solemn determination of the people of Ohio on the subject of 
the rebellion, allow me to request you to read to the meeting the enclosed 
resolution recently passed by the General Assembly of Ohio, and for me 
assure them that Ohio will offer her last man and her last dollar before yielding 
up one square foot of the soil of this republic to traitors and rebels, or to any 
other power hostile to our glorious institutions. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

DAVID TOD, Governor. 
To James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secy., Src. 

The following is the resolution above referred to. 

To THE Governor : The following is a joint resolution of the General As- 
sembly, passed the present session, to wit : 

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That we will have no 
dissolution of the Union ; that' we will have no armistice; that we can fight 
as long as rebels and traitors can ; that the war shall go on until law is re- 
stored, and we will never despair of the republic. 

Respectfully yours. 

B.' F. HOFFMAN, Secretary. 

Resolutions relative to Pledging the Support of the State to the 
General Government. 

Whereas, A republican form of government is believed to rest largely upon 
the consent of the governed, and can only be maintained, when war is waged 



19 

for its destruction, by a hearty cooperation of the loyal people of such gov- 
ernment ; and 

Whereas, The Constitution of the United States, founded by the wisdom and 
patriotism of our fathers, very wisely provides for a government of legisla- 
tive, judicial, and executive departments, with power, believed to be ample, 
to defend the rights of the people, maintain the authority of the government, 
and execute the laws of the nation ; and, 

Whereas, An unholy warfare is now waged by certain states against the 
authority of the legally constituted government of the country; and as no pro- 
vision is made by the Constitution for the suppression of a rebellion, and the 
enforcement of the laws, except through the legally-constituted authorities of 
the country ; and as the execution of the laws, in a republican or democratic 
form of government, depends largely upon the loyalty and patriotism of the 
people ; therefore, 

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That we deem it 
proper, as the representatives of the people, to renew our pledges, in the name 
of the people of the state, to the general government, to render it all the aid 
within our power, both morally and physically, in its laudable efforts to put 
down the rebellion, preserve the Constitution, and restore the Union. 

Resolved, That it is with pain and mortification that we hear of the proposi- 
tions of either persons or parties in the North to divide the loyal states, with 
the ultimate design of attaching any portion of those states to the so-called 
Southern Confederacy ; and that we do, in the name of the people of the State 
of Ohio, most solemnly protest against such a heresy, — believing that it not 
only proposes the destruction of the Constitution and of the Union, but would, 
if encouraged, result finally in the probable overthrow of our civil liberties. 

Resolved, That any attempt by persons or parties in the North to divide the 
territory of the Union, while the general government is waging war for its pres- 
ervation, is an act of disloyalty — giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the 
country — and is deserving the severest reprehension and condemnation of all 
loyal men and good citizens. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward copies of the foregoing 
preamble and resolutions to the President of the United States, and to each of 
our Senators andKepreseutatives in Congress. 

JAMES R. HUBBELL, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

B. STANTON, 
March 24, 1863. President of the Senate. 



LETTER OF GOV. SALOMON, OF WISCONSIN. 

State of Wisconsin, Executive Department, ) 
Madison, April 9, 1863. ) 

Sir : Returning here after several days' absence, I find on my table your let- 
ter of the 26th ult., requesting my presence at the inaugural mass meeting of 
the Loyal N.itional League, which is to be held at Union Square, in your city 
on the 11th inst. 

I regret that I shall not be able to be present at the meeting, there to renew 
the simple, solemn, and appropriate pledge of unconditional loyalty to the gov- 
ernment and people of the United States. 

The day of the meeting is fitly chosen to recall the great, unprecedented, and 
enthusiastic uprising of the loyal masses of this nation for the maintenance of 
our govei-nment, our Constitution, and Union. Two years this war has been 
waged, and yet the national integrity has not been re-established ; and more than 
ever is unity — open, bold, and unconditional loyalty — necessary to save the na- 
tion. But the last hope of the rebellion, a divided North, is fast waning before 



the new uprising of the loyal people, who are reviving their pledges of support 
and loyalty to the government, and before whose earnest, true, and solemn 
words and resolves, lurking treason again must hide its head — as open, avowed 
treason will foil by loyal IdIows. 

You will please enter my name as a member of the Loyal National League 
Firmly 1 shall stand by the pledge of its members. 

Very respectfully yours, 

EDWAKD SALOMON. 
James A, Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Loyal National League, New York. 



LETTER OF GOV. KIRKWOOD, OF IOWA. 

Iowa City, April 7, 1863. 
Sir : I very much regret that official engagements prevent my acceptance of 
vour invitation to attend the mass meeting at Union Square, at your city, on the 
11th inst. 

Unconditional loyalty to the government of the United States, an unwaver- 
ing support of its efforts to suppress the rebellion, and the sparing of no en- 
deavor 10 maintain unimpaired the national unity, both in principle and ter- 
ritorial boundary, are duties so plain, and clear, and imperative, that the failure 
to perform them can, in my judgment, be attributed only to partisan political 
bigotry or disloyalty. 

The' gallant soldiers that Iowa has contributed to the national arms have 
testified their devotion to these duties on many a hard-fought and glorious 
battle-field ; and our people at home, through their representatives in the state 
and national councils, present to treason and rebellion a front as determined, as 
compact and unbroken, as that maintained by their brothers before the enemy 
in arms. 

The loyal men of Iowa are ready to strike hands with all men who fully 
recognize and faithfully perform their duties, and hold as traitors those who 
do not. 

Very respectfully, 

Your most obedient servant, 

SAMUEL V. KIRKWOOD 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary Loyal National League. 



REPLY ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA. 

State of Minnesota, Executive Department, ) 
St. Paul, ApHl 6, 1863. j 

Sir : Your communication of the 26th ult. to Governor Ramsey, now absent 
from the ttate on official business, has just been received. 

I regret that Governor Ramsey is not here to reply in person to your invita- 
tion for him to address your League on the 11th instant. He most cordially 
and heartily approves of the object of your association, and, could he be 
present, would with pleasure take part in the proceedings of the inaugural 
mass meetiug to be held at Union Square on Saturday next. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

ROBERT F. FISK, Private Secretary. 
James A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Loyal National League, New York. 



21 

LETTER OF HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD, M. C. FROM ILLINOIS. 

Washington, April 6, 1863. 

Sir : I had the honor to receive your note of March 26, inviting me to ad- 
dress the mass meeting to be held under the auspices of the " Loyal National 
League," at Union Square, New York, on the 11th instant. I regret that it 
will not be in my power to attend ; but, although I cannot be with you in person, 
I beg the privilege of joining with all patriotic citizens, everywhere and of 
every party, in the " solemn pledge and firm resolve that the wiity of the na- 
tion shall not be impaired, either in principle or territorial boundary, and that 
the government of our fathers shall be maintained." 

I have the proud satisfaction of representing a people occupying that por- 
tion of the country constituting the summit bf^tween the valley of the Missis- 
sippi and the Atlantic, so that the waters which fall to fertilize our soil, flow, 
on the one hand, into the Gulf of Mexico, and, on the other, into the St. Law- 
rence ; hence the Union is to us a necessity. The Northwest clasps in her 
one hand the East, and with the other she grasps the South ; and she will hold the 
Union together. 

From the bombardment of Fort Sumter down to the present moment — through 
all the changes and vicissitudes of the contest, in victory and in defeat — the 
Northwest has never hesitated nor faltered. Unseduced and uninfluenced by 
the insidious appeals of peace-men and traitors, whether at Richmond or in 
New York, or in the West, the people have ever been steadfiist, and determined 
that our nationality should continue in all its territorial integrity. 

Those who have sought to sow the seeds of discord between the East and 
the West, those who have suggested that " New England he left out in the cold," 
have been indignantly repudiated by the people, and especially by the gallant 
soldiers who are fighting for the old flag of our common country. 

The soldiei's of Illinois and New York, of New England and the West, min- 
gling and fighting together on many a glorious and sanguinary field in this war 
for Liberty and the Constitution, will with their blood cement a Union and na- 
tionality so strong and deep that no traitor shall ever again disturb its har- 
mony. 

The constancy and courage of the American people, manifested in this con- 
test, is one of the highest instances of moral sublimity on record. The grand 
idea which sustains the war is our nationality. 

A free Continental Republic, ocean bounded, and extending from the Lakes 
to the Gulf, is the ideal of the American patriot. For this he deems it a priv- 
ilege to fight, and, if need be, to die. 

To the complete realization of this ideal Republic is the conviction becom- 
ing each day more and more clearly developed that this Republic must he free. 

The rebellion is the suicide of Slavery. The death of slavery will be the 
regeneration of the nation. So be it. Line the Republic ; die Slavery. 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

ISAAC N. ARNOLD. 

Jas. a. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the Loyal National League. 



LETTER OF HON. EDWARD HAIGHT, M. C. FROM NEW YORK. 

New York, April 11, 18G3. 
Dear Sir : It would give me unfeigned pleasure to be present at, and to 
take part in, the exercises of the meeting " en masse," in accordance with your 
kind invitation, did the state of my health admit it. 



22 

But though necessarily absent in body, I shall be present in spirit, and with 
as firm a resolve as will animate the breast of the most ardent patriot, to stand 
fost by our common country, till she is brought with honor through the fiery 
trial she is now called to undergo. 

The formation of Loyal National Leagues was the happy thought of some 
patriot, whose regard for the fitness of things has been readily appreciated and 
caught up by the common sense of the people. What gives them their value is 
not alone that their members are renewedly pledged to maintain the national 
unity, for every loyal heai-t is now, alwaijs, and forever pledged to stand 
up boldly and firmly against the enemies of his country, at home and abroad ; 
but their value consists in bringing the loyalty of the country into bold re- 
lief; causing it, as it were, to stand out, the admiration of manhood, while it 
casts into midnight shade the traitorous bands who, within their gilded circle, 
have yet to learn what this meaneth — Loyalty ! 

It is fitting, too, that for this great meeting the anniversary of the attack on 
Sumter should have been chosen. The recollection of that, and of the noble de- 
fence of the old flag by Major Anderson and his brave little band of patriot 
soldiers, quickens the pulse and nerves the arm of every patriot to avenge the 
dire insult, and vindicate our national honor and national unity before the 
world. 

Then, with a firm trust in Providence — with men in our councils " who will 
not sell the truth to serve the hour" — with a commander honest, and of firmness 
of purpose — with generals who only "in the path of duty see the way to glory'' — 
with our armies well tried, and in no sense proved wanting — we shall bruise the 
head of the serpent treason so efiectually, that its crest will not again be 
raised to frighten weak and timid minds, who only know the meaning of the 
word Compromise ; — a consummation most devoutly to be wished, and in my 
view most certain of accomplishment. 

I have the honor to be yours, very respectfully, 

EDWARD HAIGHT. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the Loyal National League. 



LETTER OF HON. H. L. DAWES, M. C. FROM MASSACHUSETTS. 

North Adams, Mass., April 4th, 1863. 

Sir : I can be with you only in heart on the 11th inst., the second anniver- 
sary of that day on which traitors first made open war upon the republic, to 
make, in the presence of a patriotic nation, new pledges and fresh resolves that 
the unity of this government and people shall be perpetual. I would gladly 
join the throng who will go up to take your pledge on that day, or lift my voice 
to encourage or assure any doubting Thomas who has ears to hear. 

As it is, you shall have my whole heart; and you can make no pledge I 
will not take as often as the sun rises. And Avhen I die, if this war and the 
mother of it have not gone into a common grave, I will swear my children to 
perform it. This shall be my " Delenda est Caithago.'' Any man, whoever 
he be, who will enter into a league with me that this common grave shall be 
dug, and that right speedily, with him I will lock arms ; but the man who hes- 
itates to make this covenant has already begun to be a traitor. 

Thanking you for your kind invitation, 

I am truly yours, 

H. L. DAWES. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, j-c. 



23 

LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SCOTT. 

New York, April 8, 1863. 
Sir : I feel myself honored by the special invitation to attend the Union 
meeting on the 11th inst., to renew to the government on that day (the anni- 
versary of the attack on Fort Sumter) the solemn pledge to uphold the national 
authority and national unity. 

With an undying attachment to the Union, to which I have given fifty odd 
years of my life, my heart will always be in all meetings called to sustain it ; 
but probably I shall in person never again be present at another public as- 
semblage, even for that noble purpose. 
With great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

WINFIELD SCOTT. 
J. A. Stevens, Jr., Esq., Chairman, cfc. 



LETTER FROM H. W. HALLECK, GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE 
AMERICAN ARMIES. 

Headquarters of the Army, \ 
Washington, April 5th, 1863. j 

Sir : I have received your invitation to attend a mass meeting of the Loyal 
National League in New York, on the 11th instant, and I regret that my official 
duties will prevent me from being present. I, however, fully approve of the 
object of the meeting, as set forth in your circular. 

I think no man who has carefully observed the course of events in the rebel 
states, since the commencement of this war, can now hope for any other peace 
than that which is imposed by the bayonet. The loyal states must conquer this 
rebellion, or it will conquer them. Loyal men of all parties, and of all shades of 
political opinion, must unite in supporting the government of our fathers, or 
consent to see the glory and integrity of this great nation utterly destroyed by 
rebels and traitors. This rebellion cannot be put down by peaceful measures. 
Those who pretend to think so are either madmen or traitors in disguise. We 
must either conquer or submit to terms dictated by the Southern oligarchy. 
There is no other alternative. The great North and West, with their vastly 
superior numbers and means, can conquer, if they will act together. If, 
through factions and dissensions, they fail to do this, they will stand forever 
disgraced in the opinion of the world, and will transmit that disgrace to their 
posterity. 

We have already made immense progress in this war — a greater progress 
than was ever before made under similar circumstances. Our armies are 
still advancing, and, if sustained by the voices of the patriotic millions at 
home, they will ere long crush the rebellion in the South, and then place their 
heels upon the heads of sneaking traitors in the North. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. 
James A. Roosevelt, Secretary of the League, New York. 



LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER, COMMANDING 
THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, ) 
April 9, 1863. / 

Sir: Acknowledging the receipt of an invitation to be present at a mass 
meeting of the loyal citizens of the United States, to be held at New York on 



the 11th instant, I have occasion to regret that my duties will not permit me to 
be present at that important assemblage. 

Permit me, however, to express my hearty sympathy with the objects and 
purposes of the proposed demonstration, and to desire that my name may be 
placed with those who so love their country, its Union, and its Constitution, as 
to be glad to renew pledges of loyalty and fealty as often as circumstances will 
demand. The frequent assembling together of our countrymen, for the pur- 
pose of counsel and interchange of thought upon the great national question of 
the day, is one of the useful and commendable duties of the times, which has 
my best wishes, as it has that of all honest and loyal men. The army which I 
have the honor to command is, I am proud to say, in such good heart, and in 
so excellent a condition, that I am warranted in pledging it to a gallant blow 
for the defence of our national unity and integrity whenever the enemy shall 
be met by the army of the Potomac. 

That God may speed the cause of the Union and of popular liberty every- 
where, is the hopeful aspiration of 

Your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH HOOKER, 

Major-General commanding. 

To James A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary Loyal National League. 



LETTER FROM MAJOR-GENERAL McDOWELL. 

St, Louis, Mo., April 7, 1863. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th 
lilt., inviting me to address the meeting of the Loyal National League in New 
York on the 11th inst. 

I regret the duty on which I am now employed will not permit my being in 
New York on that occasion. The association has my sincere sympathy, and 
shall have my cordial support. I see the pledge does not difi'er, substantially, 
from the one I took some time since, and in a more formal and solemn manner 
even than is proposed by the League, and which I share with a million of oth- 
ers ! I mean the oatk taken by the army, by the privates as well as the gen- 
erals, " to bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and to 
serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies and opposers whom- 
soever." 

May not those who have taken this oath be regarded as virtually members 
of the National League — active members, who, to fulfil their pledge, have 
given up nearly all of their personal liberty, and most of whom are now sacri- 
ficing the material interests of themselves and their families ? 

It is mainly to the exertions of those active membei's that we must look for 
the suppression of this rebellion. Their labors and sacrifices will not be in 
vain, and the hope of the loyal will not be disappointed, if they and their suc- 
cessors are only sustained by those who remain at home. 

Will it not be one of the objects of the League which is to be inaugurated on 
the 11th, to see that they and the national government are sustained, both 
through good report and through evil report — " in all times of their tribu- 
lation,'" as in all times of their " prosperity V — for thus only can the nation 
finally have unity, peace, and concord, — peace and concord following, and only 
possible, after unity. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully. 

Your most ob't servant, 

IRVIN McDOWELL, 

Major-General. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the Loyal National League, New York. 



25 



LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL STONEMAN. 



Headquarters Cavalry Corps, ) 



Army of the Potomac, April 3, 1863. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknovrledge the receipt of an invitation from the 
Loyal National Leagne to unite with it in the ceremonies connected with its 
inauguration (in Union Square, New York city), on the anniversary of the day 
upon which the war upon the government was begun, in the bombardment of 
Fort Sumter. 

Permit me to assure you that nothing would give me more unfeigned satis- 
faction than to be present upon the occasion, did duty to my country in another 
field permit my presence in your city at this time. 

These are times which demand that every true soldier and lover of his coun- 
try should be at his post, either battling with a powerful and arrogant foe in 
front, or crushing out an equally dangerous and more unprincipled foe at 
home ; and it is hoped that the efforts of the League, amongst other things, may 
be directed toward holding up to execration those men who, under the shield 
of '•' free speech,'' seek to paralyze the earnest endeavors of those who are 
ready to offer up, as a willing sacrifice upon the altar of their beloved coun- 
try, their lives and their all for the honor and the integrity of their nation and 
their nation's flag. 

You can rest assured that if this army has a thorough hatred for the reb- 
els in its front, it has an equal hatred, intensified by scorn, for traitors at 
home, and that we would hang the one with the same satisfaction that we 
would shoot the other. 

We have nothing in common with Southern principles, and no patience with 
Northern sympathizers ; and we warn them that the day will come when we 
will make it as uncomfortable for them to remain where they will then be as it 
would be dangerous for them to come where we now are. 

With my best wishes for the successful accomplishment of the objects, as set 
forth in your letter, and the hope that I may be honored with the privilege of 
being considered a member of the Loyal National League, I have the honor 
to be, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-General 
James A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary Loyal National League, New York. 



LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE. 

Headquarters 5th Army Corps, 
Camp near Falmouth, Va., 

April 2d, 18G3. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th 
ult., inviting me to be present at a proposed meeting of the Loyal National 
League, to be held at Union Square, on the 11th inst., and, in the event of my 
inability to attend, asking for my views. 

My duties with the army in the field, and the near approach of active opera- 
tions, preclude the possibility of my presence on the occasion referred to; 
which I the more regret, because, cordially subscribing to the cardinal princi- 
ples enunciated as the basis of your association, it would afford me much pleas- 
ure to co-operate with you in giving a public expression to the same. 

My views, which you ask foi-, are very brief and simple. They are, that it 
is, and should be, the undoubted and unhesitating duty of every citizen of the 
republic to give his whole energies,.and to contribute by all the means in his 
power, to the determined prosecution of the war, until the integrity of the gov- 



26 

eminent is re-established, and its supremacy acknowledged. Deprecating as 
useless all discussion as to the causes of the war, the fact of its existence, and 
the necessity for its continuance, should alone occupy us. For its successful 
prosecution and termination, I am clearly of the opinion there is only required 
union and harmony among ourselves, and the bringing to bear men and means 
proportionate to the power and resources of the counti-y. 

For the purpose of securing union and harmony, I know of no measure better 
calculated than the organization of your National Loyal League. Its broad 
and simple platform is one to which citizens of all parties can readily subscribe ; 
and I have no doubt its effect will be most salutary in proving, to those who 
are in arms to subvert the government, that, whatever differences of opinion 
may exist on minor points, upon the main point of there being but one gov- 
ernment and one flag, we are determined and united. 

Wishing you every success in your patriotic object, I have to assure you, 
for myself and those under my command, that we do not hesitate " to pledge our- 
selves to unconditional loyalty to the government of the United States — to an 
unswerving support of its efforts to suppress the rebellion, and to spare no en- 
deavor to maintain unimpaired the national unity, both in principle and terri- 
torial boundary." 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Most respectfully, your obed't serv't, 

GEO. G. MEADE, 
3Iaj. Gen. of Vol's. 
Jas. a. Koosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary Loyal National League, New York. 



LETTER FROM MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN A. DIX. 

No, 3 West Twenty-first Street, ) 
New York, April 10, 1863. j 

Sir: I am here for a few days only, and it is not in my power to accept 
your invitation to attend and address the mass meeting to be held in Union 
Square to-morrow ; but I take great pleasure in expressing to you, for such 
use as you may think fit, my views in regard to the contest which is convuls- 
ing the country. It is nearly two years since I addressed a mass meeting of 
the citizens of New York where yours is to be held. The contest had just 
then commenced, and we pledged to the country our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor, to sustain the government in carrying it on. The battle of 
Fort Sumter had been fought ; some of its brave defenders were with us ; the 
tattered flag, which they had upheld till they had been conquered by famine, 
and not by the steel of their treacherous countrymen, was waving over us. 

Seven states had declared themselves out of the Union : in some of them 
even without the formality of such a declaration. Our mints, forts, and reve- 
nue vessels, had been forcibly seized and appropriated by the insurgents to the 
prosecution of their treasonable purposes. In Baltimore our troops, hastening 
to the defence of the Capital, had been shot down in the public streets. It 
was under these circumstances that we assembled to declare that this insur- 
rection against the government, founded upon no just cause — the offspring of 
ambition, and of a long-concerted scheme of national disorganization, must be 
put down ; that it was due to our fathers, our children, our country, and the 
cause of public order throughout the world, that this example of selfishness 
and bad faith should not go down to future generations hallowed by success to 
inspirit the machinations of false men, and to dishearten the friends of good 
government. 



27 

When I say this insurrection against the government is without just cause, 
I do not overlook the fact that there has been much in sectional movements 
and objects to excite irritation; and no one has condemned these movements 
and objects more strongly than myself. 

But the origin of this insurrection is of earlier date, and founded in more 
deeply-seated causes. The hostility to the Union of which it is the fruit, was 
first developed in the nullification movement of 1832. It contemplated then 
what it is contending for now — a forcible separation of the states. When 
Gen. Jackson, by his extraordinary sagacity, saw its secret purpose, and by his 
indomitable courage put it down, he declared that the conspiracy was only 
suspended, that it would be renewed at some future time, on the question of 
slavery, which would be made a pretext for the dissolution of the Union. The 
history of the last quarter of a century manifests the truth of his prophecy. 
The object has never for a moment been out of view. The Southern mind has been 
educated in hostility to the Union, and in favor of a separate confederacy, with 
slavery as the basis of its organization ; and the Southern states, with few excep- 
tions, a majority of them unwillingly, have been led by management, and at length 
driven by violence, into open, forcible, armed rebellion against a government to 
which they were parties by a compact as sacred as any that ever existed between 
communities or men. If the Southern states had by their representatives met 
peacefully in convention; if they had calmly and with unanimity expressed their 
desire to withdraw from the Union, and had declared their inability from incom- 
patibility of interest, temper, or political opinion, to live in harmony with us, it 
would have been an appeal which we could not well have resisted; but when 
all deference to our justice and good feeling, all consideration of our rights, are 
contemptuously disregarded, when the public arms, forts, treasures, and arse- 
nals, are unscrupulously seized; when that which could only have been prop- 
erly the result of negotiation and agreement, is sought to be gained by fraud, 
or extorted by violence ; and when the national flag, endeared to us by the 
blood of our ancestors, and by victories unnumbered on the sea and the 
land, is insulted and trampled under foot, there is but one course for 
just, brave, and honorable men, and that is to defend the government, the 
Union, and the national integrity, if need be, to the last dollar of our treasure 
and the last drop of our blood. It is painful — I will not say it is discouraging 
— to find any difference of opinion among us on this subject. I have felt not 
only grieved, but mortified by the recent peace movements at the North. I 
am amazed that any one can suppose they can have any other result than to 
give courage and confidence to the insurgents, or that there is any hope of 
success on our part but in a steady and unshrinking prosecution of the war. 
The insurgent leaders will accept nothing less than a recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the Confederate States. They will not even negotiate with us 
until that point is conceded. Their efforts were never more desperate than 
they are now. They have brought into the field, by conscription, near- 
ly every man capable of beariiig arras. Our divisions have inspired 
them with fresh hopes, and have given new point to their hostility. The 
tone of their leading presses is higher, and the demands of their leaders 
more extravagant, than they were before the peace moverments commenced. 
A peace on any terms with men animated by such a spirit would be a mere 
suspension of hostilities, to be renewed with greater advantages on their 
part, and with more embittered feelings of hatred. If there ever was a 
contest that needed to be fought out, it is this. The men who have dragged 
the people of the South into this insurrection against a government over 
which they have had, for three quarters of a century, a leading- control, which 
has never visited them with a single act of oppression or injustice, must be 
overthrown before we can have any peace which would not be a precursor of 
fiercer war ; war which would inevitably transfer to our own territory the 
ravages which have desolated theirs. If those who, to quote their own idle 
and delusive phrase, are engaged in " the prosecution of peace/' could look 



28 

on this spectacle of deserted fields whioh were once teeming with the fruit of 
a bounteous agriculture ; of groves and forests levelled to the ground ; of houses 
stripped of their covering so as to be no longer habitable, and of families 
broken up, dispersed, and homeless ; in a word, if they could see with their own 
eyes the prevading desolation which two armies, one of friends and the other 
of foes, have wrought out in widely-extended districts, they would be con- 
vinced that there is no present hope but in continued war — war which should 
strip of their power the authors of all this devastation — vigorous and deci- 
sive war as a prelude to a stable peace. War is the only means by which the 
same horrors can be kept from our own firesides. Desperate as the strug- 
gle has been, there is nothing in the past which should discourage us. 

We must not disguise the magnitude of the contest, or of the efforts and suf- 
ferings to be endured. 

There is more blood to be shed, more treasure to be expended, more hard- 
fought battle-fields to be won. These are considerations to inspire us with 
patriotism and courage — not to overwhelm us with discouragement and de- 
spair. There are crises in the life of every nation by which its spirit and char- 
acter are tested. Such a crisis is upon us ; we are to demonstrate whether the 
love of country or the love of ease predominates in us, and under circumstan- 
ces which would make defeat indelible disgrace. 

We have two millions of people capable of bearing arms ; the insurgents 
have but half a million. Our foreign commerce, our domestic industry — in a 
word, our labor, in all its extended channels, is comparatively undisturbed. 
Their communications by sea are cut off — their agriculture is paralyzed in its 
most profitable branches, and it is becoming a question whether, with nearly 
the entire white male adult population withdrawn from the field of producive 
industry, food enough can be provided for their absolute wants. Almost without 
manufactures there is a fearful prospect of destitution in nearly all those fabrics 
which are essential to bodily comfort and health. The prices paid for them 
are almost incredible. This enhancement of values is not merely a conse- 
quence of the depreciation of the currency, but it is even more the result of 
scarcity combined with an imperious demand which cannot be adequately 
supplied. This dearth will continue, and with increased intensity. That it 
will be much longer endured by the great body of the people I do not believe ; 
Indeed, I am satisfied that the insurgent army at this moment would crumble 
to pieces but for the arbitrary power by which it is controlled. The highest 
impulses that ever roused a great people to action are ours. Never was pre- 
sented to a nation such a choice of blessings to be achieved, or evils to be 
averted. 

On the one side there is national glory and prosperity, the inheritance of an 
unsullied name, the renown of ancestors to be transmitted to their children, 
the achievements of years that are past, the promise of years that are to come, 
the security from internal disruption, only to be effected by maintaining the 
Union unbroken j all these are the stakes -for which we are contending. On 
the other hand, there is public dishonor, reproach to the good name of those who 
have gone before and of those who are to come after, an example of pusilla- 
nimity to make children blush for their fathers; national dissolution and an 
element of disintegration engrafted on our political system which will break 
us into fragments, and make us the sport of internal ambition and disorder, 
and of foreign cupidity and violence. These are the great evils we are strug- 
gling to avert ; and if, through our want of courage, our internal divisions, and 
our unwillingness to make sacrifices for the preservation of our government, 
we cannot rise to the level of our responsibilities and duties, the part we shall 
have borne in this contest will go down to future ages as one of the most dis- 
graceful examples of demoralization in the annals of our race. I look with 
unshaken confidence to the great body of the people for deliverance from im- 
pending evils — for the courage, the constancy, the disinterestedness, and the in- 
difference to personal sacrifices necessary to restore to us the Union, with 



29 

strength augmented by the severity of the trial through which it will have 
passed. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

JOHN A. mx. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq. 

Secretary ISational League. 



LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL SILAS CASEY. 

Washington, D. C, April 6, 1863. 
Dear Sir : Yours of the 3d inst., conveying an invitation on behalf of the 
National League is received. I regret that my duties are such that I cannot 
accept your polite invitation to be present at your meeting on the 11th inst. 

The formation and principles of your League meet with the concurrence of 
my understanding, and with the approbation of my heart. 

It is meet and proper that you should have for your meeting the anniversary 
of the day when the glorious flag of our country was so foully dishonored by 
traitors in arms. 

The issue of the contest in which we are now engaged, involves inter- 
ests of momentous importance — the destinies of unborn millions. If, from 
disloyalty, or neglect of duty on our part, this rebellion succeeds, our 
free institutions are gone. We may keep up a disjointed national existence of 
some kind — but the free institutions which have been handed down to us, and 
which are the glory of our Republic, will have been sunk in the night of ages. 
If true to ourselves, we may expect the aid of a just and kind Creator, for He 
has no attributes which would aid in founding, on the ruins of a free republic, 
an empire, whose cornerstone is human slavery. 

Momentous history is being enacted about us ; and in view of its all-absorbing 
importance, let us swear on the altar of our country that we will never relax 
our efforts until its glorious flag shall wave over every foot of its soil. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

SILAS CASEY, 

Major-Generai Volunteers. 
John Austin Stevens, Jr., 

National League Committee. 



FROM MAJOR-GENERAL REYNOLDS. 

Headquarters 1st Army Corps, 1 
Army of^ the Potomac, April, 4, 1863. j 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowfedge the receipt of your request to join the 
inaugural mass meeting to be held in New York city by the Loyal National 
League on the anniversary of the day on which the war against the govern- 
ment was begun in the South. 

I regret that my duties here will preclude the possibility of my being present 
on an occasion of such interest to every pure patriot. 

With every expression of interest in the sentiments and objects of the meet- 
ing, and hoping all success may attend the efforts of the association, 

I remain, very respectfully, 

Your ob't servant, 

JOHN F. REYNOLDS, 
Maj. Gen. Folunteers. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary Loyal National League, New York. 



30 

LETTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL. 

Headquarters, New York, ) 
April 9, 1863. ] 
My dear Sir: I received your kind invitation to attend the Union League 
meeting anticipated on Saturday next, for which you have many thanks. I 
regret that it will not be in my power to attend. 

Business of importance connected with my department calls me to the 
North. I, however, will be with you in thought and spirit. 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN E. WOOL. 
To John A. Stevens, Jr., Chairman. 



LETTER OF CARL SCHURZ, MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE U. S. ARMY. 

Dear Sir : The invitation to be present at, or to write a letter to, the great 
meeting of the League at New York, reached me only to-day. I found it on 
my return from Washington. How it happened that I did not receive it in 
time I do not know. I would, indeed, not have been able to be present, but I 
would have gladly availed myself of that occasion to give an expression of my 
sentiments in Avriting. 

I write you this in order to let you know that my silence was not owing to 
any neglect on my part. I shall always be happy to contribute my little mite 
to the success of the good cause^ whenever a fit occasion presents itself. 
Very truly yours, 

C. SCHURZ. 



LETTER OF GEN. JAMES S. WADSWORTH, OF THE ARMY OP 

THE POTOMAC. 

Headquarters, First Division, First Corps, ) 

April 8, 18G3. ] 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your circular inviting 
me to attend a mass meeting in Union Square on the 11th instant, the anniver- 
sary of the attack on Fort Sumter. 

I regret that my duties here will not allow me to assemble with you on that 
occasion, to renew, with the loyal citizens who Avill there congregate, the sol- 
emn and earnest vows which every true patriot lias taken, to stand by his gov- 
ernment and his flag in this hour of our greatest trial. 

In common, so far as I know, with every soldier in the army, I have wit- 
nessed with deep gratification the formation of Loyal Leagues in the loyal 
states, and the fresh and fervent outburst of patriotic sentiment among the 
people. That this should occur after the incidence of heavy taxation had been 
felt, and homes in every quarter had been made desolate by the havoc of war, 
is a sufl5cient proof that the nation has risen to a just appreciation of the mag- 
nitude of the issue ; that it feels that not only territorial integrity, but honor 
and freedom, are at stake. 

A proud, but base and selfish oligarchy, reared in a social system which 
does all a social system can do to deprave the heart, pervert the understanding, 
and develop only a brutal passion for dominion, has attempted to overthrow 
our go\ernment and divide our country. With such a foe, there can be no 
compromise, no concession, no half-way course. We must fight it out, and 
conquer, or be conquered. 

The annals of the past record no greater or nobler struggle. Thousands of 
years will not obliterate the history of the events in which we are taking part ; 
and whether, in all that time, we shall be pointed to as the degenerate sons of 
noble sires, or as the worthy inheritors of the freedom they achieved, will de- 
pend upon ourselves. 



31 

I can truly say, that with unlimited faith in the patriotism and intelligence of 
the people, in the courage of our troops, and in the justice of our cause, I have 
not now and never had, any fears as to the final result. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

JAMES S. WADSWORTH. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary. 



LETTER OF ADMIRAL PAULDING. 

Navy Yard, | • 

New York, April 9, 1863. | 

My dear Sir : My thanks are due to the Committee for the unmerited com- 
pliment of inviting me to speak, or express my views on the occasion of the 
great assemblage of the Union League, to meet at Union Square on the 11th inst. 

There are many of our distinguished citizens who will fill the rostrum with 
greater ability than I can ; and so far as my views may interest society, I am 
happy to convey them on an occasion, and with an object of so much import- 
ance, as our patriotic citizens have in view. AH men, worthy to live under a 
government like ours, are bound to support the administration in a vigorous 
prosecution of the war, whilst a rebel is found in arms, at any and every sacri- 
fice of life and treasure ; and all who, by word or deed, shall give aid and 
comfort to the enemy, should promptly meet the punishment due to treason. No 
cause was ever more sacred than ours, and none can be more wicked, or a 
greater outrage upon humanity, than that of the rebels. Ours is the cause of 
civihzation and rational freedom, of truth, honor, religion, and justice. That of 
the rebels may be characterized by every epithet that belongs to his Satanic 
Majesty, whose motto, '^ Better to rule in hell, than serve in heaven," they 
have essentially adopted. 

We are fighting for our country, our homes ; for the wise and beneficent gov- 
ernment of our fathers, and the last hope of freedom for the civilized world. 
The rebels made the rebellion to establish an odious despotism, cemented and 
sustained by the obscene element of human bondage, the most extravagant as- 
sumption of bad men in any age, or that ever stained the hands of men calling 
themselves Christians, with blood. We all know all this to be true, and yet 
we have the incredible phenomena of treason amongst us, bold and defiant, 
openly plotting to arrest the strong arm of the government, raised to shield 
the life of the nation. 

Would it not be wise to thrust from our midst this pestiferous evil, and ask 
for prompt legislation, if the laws will not reach the traitors and the treason 
that contaminates society, giving aid and comfort to the rebels, and misleading 
simple-minded partisans ? Would it not be wise to provide for the banish- 
ment, incarceration, and fine of these men, and no less mischievous women, who 
infest our cities, conveying information and supplies to traitors whe seek the 
lives of our gallant soldiers upholding the cause of our country ? 

When we have disposed of our domestic enemies, a more distant one will 
claim our attention ; and in regard to this we cannot act too promptly. If we 
are not on the eve of a war, it is because our old enemy and commercial rival 
has not perfected his policy ; and I am speaking the language of sober truth in 
saying, that if suitable preparation is not promptly made, our plundered cities 
may soon light up the land as our ships blaze upon the ocean. The pirate 
" Alabama," or " 290" English Merchants, is no more a rebel steamer than 
though she had never displayed the rebel emblem. She has never been in a 
rebel port. She was built, fitted, armed, and manned with English seamen in 
England, and is, to all intents and purposes, an English pirate upon our com- 
merce. Many more ships, of a formidable character, are being prepared in 
English dock-yards, to be sent abroad in the same way and upon the same 
errand. We cannot silently submit to this ; and if we could, we cannot escape 
the evident hostility. It may be well to consider whether it would not be 
better for us to have war with Eugland, than thus to be her victim. Our com- 



33 



merce is swept from the ocean by her seamen, while her merchants enjoy the 
harvest her perfidious spoliation has created. 

England never failed to cripple a rival when she could do it with impunity, 
and now, when this rebellion is upon us, she lig^hts the ocean with our ships, in 
full security that her domestic altars peacefully glimmer on her shores. I 
trust the nation will no longer submit to this insulting plunder, but rise 
to the dignity of manhood; and claiming immunity from further outrage, let 
her feel the vengeance of a gallant people, if the necessity shall be forced 
upon us. 

I am, sir, with sincere respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. PAULDING, 

Rear- Admiral and Commandant. 



LETTER OF A. D. BAOHE, U. S. COAST SURVEY. 

Sir : Public duties prevent me from leaving Washington at this time. I 
take the opportunity which your invitation gives to express my hearty sympa- 
thy with you in your sentiments of unconditional loyalty, in your efforts for 
the suppression of the rebellion — in your endeavors for National Unity. 

I am bound with you in feeling and action for the maintenance of the 
"power, glory, and integrity of the nation,'^ and feel with you that the Repub- 
lic in its extent, its government, its laws — the LTnion of our youth and maturity — 
our country, is worth the entire sacrifice of all that we have, and of all that we 
are ; is alone worth living for and dying for. 

Respectfully, yours. 

A. D. BACHE. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary of the^Loyal National League. 



LETTERS OF THE REV. DR. VINTON, OF NEW YORK. 

Trinity Church, New York, 1 
March ZOth, 1863. j 
Mt Dear Sir : I shall not be able to participate in the inaugural mass 
meeting of the Loyal League by speaking ; but be assured of my deep interest 
and earnest fellowship in all efforts to unite our countrymen in suppressing the 
rebellion, and reinforcing the allegiance of all citizens to the Constitution of 
the United States. 

I remain very truly, dear sir, 

Youf obedient servant, 

FRANCIS VINTON. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary. 



Trinity Church, 
New York, April 8, 1863. 
My dear Sir : I beg to acknowledge the invitation of the Committee of the 
Loyal National League to address the meeting of citizens on the anniversary 
of the rebel assault on Fort Sumter. Being disabled from speaking in the 
open air, I avail myself of your alternative, of writing to my countrymen. 

It has appeared to me that the complaint against the federal authorities, that 
in the prosecution of this war they have violated the Constitution of the United 
States, is a grave misapprehension. The Constitution has been developed, not 



33 

violated. This is tho proposition which I would demonstrate and maintain. 
The last Congress and this administration have doubtless inaugurated measures, 
by-laws, and edicts, unprecedented ; but the civil war which has exacted them 
is unprecedented. 

The Constitution was framed by our wise fathers for the exigencies of War 
as well as of Peace. It would indeed be impotent to accompHsh the grand 
purposes of government, proclaimed in the Preamble, unless it conferred war 
powers. For while " Union " is impaired by rebellion, and '-justice " defied 
by arms, and "domestic tranquillity" disturbed by disloyalty and treason, 
how is Union to be "perfected," or justice " established," or tranquillity "in- 
sured," by the Constitution, but by war powers in the Constitution ? How 
did " the people of the United States" propose to " provide for the common de- 
fence, and promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
themselves and their posterity," by ordaining and establishing the "Constitution 
of the United States of America," unless by incorporating war powers in their 
fundamental law ? By developing these constitutional provisions, the Presi- 
dent and Congress have acquired an historical pre-eminence, rivalled only by 
the Convention of our forefathers which framed them, the states which adopted 
them, and the Congress which organized the government. 

The administration of President Washington and the administration of Pres- 
ident Lincoln will stand side by side in historical fame. The one has displayed 
the vigor of the Constitution which the other set on foot. 

Look at the Habeas Corpus question. President Lincoln has acted on the hy- 
pothesis that the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus is suspended, by order- 
ing the arrest and imprisonment of persons suspected of disloyalty to the 
country, and of giving aid to the rebellion. 

The constitutional provision respecting Habeas Corpus is remarkable. It is 
negative. It is as follows : '• The privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall 
not be suspended, unless when, in cases of Rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety may require it." (Art., I. sec. 9, ^ 2.) It is ranged in the catalogue of 
the disabilities of Congress. So far as it is positive, it prohibits the suspension 
of the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus in time of peace. And it de- 
clares that in cases of rebellion or invasion, it shall be suspended if the pub- 
lic safety requires it. Rebellion or invasion, ipso facto, suspends it, for the 
sake of the public safety. The question for the authorities of government to 
determine, is simply — " Does rebellion or invasion so exist as to jeopard ' the 
public safety' ? " 

The public safety means the lawful liberty of the mass of individuals. The 
privilege of the writ o{ Habeas Corpus is the privilege of personal liberty under 
law of an individual in spite of arbitrarj^ power. Does rebellion or invasion 
so prevail as to endanger the lawful liberty or rights of the mass of persons. 
If so, the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus, to individuals, is suspended 
by the Constitution out of regard to the rights of the public. But wliat au- 
thorities of the government are to determine when the public safety demands 
the suspension of the writ ? They who maintain that Congress has this pre- 
rogative argue upon the analogy of English precedent. But the analogy does 
not hold. Tor Parliament enacted the law of Habeas Corpus, and, therefore, 
Parliament alone may su:<pend the law. But Congress did not enact the law 
of Habeas Corpus, and, therefore, it is not requisite that Congress should sus- 
pend it. And, moreover, there is is no example of Parliament suspending the 
privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus. It remains unrepealed and un- 
touched on the statute book ever since the reign of Charles II. And yet the 
privilege of the Avrit bus been frequently suspended when the public safety 
required it. The King, by advice of the Privy Council, has arrested and im- 
prisoned disloyal persons, without authority of Parliament. And the uni- 
form course has prevailed of an act of indemnity by Parliament, discharging 
all persons from guilt who had any agency in arresting suspected person and 
denying them the privilege of Habeas Corpus. 



Earl Russell has stated in the House of Lords this distinction between the 
Law of England and the Constitution of the United States. They who would 
fetch these arguments against the President from England would better ap- 
prove the act of the late Congress indeninifyinjr the President. But, under 
our Constitution, there was no need of the act of indemnity ; for if the Consti- 
tution, itself, suspends the writ of Habeas Corpus in cases of rebellion or inva- 
sion, when the public safety may require it, the question is narrowed to the 
inquiry whether rebellion or invasion is a fact. 

In the present condition of the country, no one can be found of hardihood 
to deny that rebellion is a fact, and that the public safety requires the sup- 
pression of the rebellion. 

But the demand is made : '' Why should the President be the judge when 
the exigency exists ?" The answer to this demand is made by Mr. Horace Bin- 
ney, whose statement and argument on this question are not to be refuted. 
He shows that the judge of the exigency is not the Supreme Court, not Con- 
gress, but the Executive. The President alone makes oath to " preserve, pro- 
tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The Judiciary are 
out of the question, since this power of government is the one with whom any 
controversy on the question may happen, and it cannot be judge in its own 
case. The Congress may not judge if the exigency, for Congress may not be 
in session; and though in session, the power to judg-e is neither expressly nor 
by implication given to Congress. The Executive remains to enforce the pro- 
vision of the Constitution, by virtue both of necessity and of his oath. 

The privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus is a privilege for the conservation 
of personal liberty in time of peace. In cases of rebellion or invasion, the 
personal liberty of thousands is threatened, and, therefore, the suspension of 
the privilege of the writ to an individual suspected as an enemy is in obedience 
to the right to liberty of many individuals and the safety of the public. 

This war has thus developed the Constitution, according to the meaning of 
its authors, and has shown that this reverend document embodies a Govern- 
ment, for the protection of loyal persons, and for their preservation as a na- 
tion, whether against foreign or domestic foes. 

The privilege of the writ in time of peace, and the suspension of the privi- 
lege in cases of rebellion or invasion, alike guarantee personal liberty to the 
loyal in the land. 

Consider, next. The Finance Laws of the Thirty-seventh Congress. 

These, too, develop the Constitution of the United States. The purpose and 
effect of these laws are to establish a uniform national currency; to equalize 
exchange among the states; to establish a representative of values, grounded on 
the credit of the federal government, and thus to interest every man, who owns 
a dollar, in the permanency of the Union, and to engage him in its support. 
The appeal to patriotism is reinforced by the pocket, which is a very sensi- 
tive nerve in the body politic ; while each bank bill, like the coin of the United 
States, is a symbol and monitor of the 'national sovereignty. 

The Constitution, undoubtedly, intended to confine the regulation of the 
currency to the federal authorities exclusively, and to prohibit the states from 
any independent legislation on this subject. And the people of each state, 
by adopting the Constitution of the United States as the supreme law in the 
state, paramount to their own state constitution and laws (See Art. VI., ^ 2, 
Con. U. S.), have deliberately established the supremacy of the federal govern- 
ment over the currency of the nation. 

The Constitution of the United States gives Congress power "to coin 
money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the standard 
of weights and measures," (Art. I., sect. 8, $ 8). This provision, alone, covers 
the broad question of representatives of value in comraei'ce. The provision 
(Art. T., sect. 8, ^ 2) empowers Congress " to borrow money on the credit of the 
United States." I3ut the Constitution nowhere requires the federal govern- 
ment to make nothing but silver and gold a tender in payment of debts. 



35 

On the other hand the Constitution of the Uiiited States prohibits each 
state from interfering with the national sovereignty over finanae and commer- 
cial standards of value. " No state shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or 
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.." (Art. 
1, sect. iO, no 

Nevertheless, State Legislatures are accustomed to charter banks, with 
authority to issue " bills of credit " in the shape of bank bills, and to permit 
banks to suspend specie payments, as at the present time. 

For more than seventy years, the currency of the United States has con- 
sisted chiefly of the bills of local banks, which have enjoyed par value only 
within local precincts, beyond which they are depreciated at a greater or less 
discount, and often are valueless as a medium of exchange The country has 
suffered by these disordei's of finance. Nothing it plainer than the proposi- 
tion, that no authority may justly empower agents to do indirectly what the 
superior authority prohibits it from doing directly. The axiom obtains 
'■^ Qui facet per alium facet per se." The act of the agent is the act of the prin- 
cipal. 

But the assumed power of State Legislatures to charter banks of issue, has 
been acquiesced in by the people, as a convenience, in the absence of a na- 
tional currency, until prescription has acquired accumulating force in favor of 
local banks, rendering the inauguration of the national currency more and 
more difficult. The particular interests of stockholders, the immense priv- 
ileges of directors, the facilities enjoyed by traders, the habits of the people, 
and the rivalries of states, have combined to resist the right of Congress to 
" emit bills of credit," and establish an unifoi'm currency for the nation. 

No power but the exigencies of the nation, produced by this unhallowed re- 
bellion, it seems to me, would be strong enough to conquer the influences con- 
spii'ing to prevent the establishment of a national currency, in accordance 
with the Constitution of the United States, that eventually would supersede 
the unconstitutional local currency. 

And, therefore, this war for national union has developed the Constitution of 
the United States in evincing the sovereignty of the Federal Government over 
finance, and has thus knit tighter the bonds of union, and proclaimed afresh 
that the United States are a nation. With the Government securities in pub- 
lic and private chests, and the Government currency in every man's purse, 
there will grow up a familiarity with the sovereignty of the Federal Govern- 
ment and a patriotic determination to maintain it. Wherever the citizen trav- 
els in this vast domain of the United States, he carries with him the money of 
the Constitution as he is everywhere protected by its flag. 

In the next place, notice the Conscription Act of Congress. The Constitu- 
tion is developed in its provisions for national defence, in showing that the 
power of the sword is given to the central power, and that therefore we are a 
nation. 

Congress has authority " to raise and support armies, to provide and main- 
tain a navy, to make rules for the government of the land and naval forces, to 
provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress 
insurrections and repel invasions, to provide for organizing, arming, and disci- 
plining the militia for governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appoint- 
ment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the 
discipline prescribed by Congress." (Art. I., Sect. 8, ^ 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.) 

When the liarons in the middle-ages led their retainers to battle, the vassals 
obeyed their lord rather than the king. .Jealousies and rivalries and strife en- 
sued. The campaign was frequently frustrated and brought to naught by 
these dissensions. Not until the prerogative of calling forth and commanding 
the baronial forces was lodged exclusively in the chief baron, did the various 
dependencies acquire the consistency of a nation. After the sovereignty of the 
king was t!>us established, the nation was at unity in itself, and ciYilization 
leaped forward to fresh exploits. 



36 

The analogy to our own country is palpable. State rights and the federal 
sovereignty have frequently come into collision. The authority of the central 
govei'nment to enrol and draft the citizens of the republic, has been question- 
ed and hindered. A volunteer army was deemed best, and bounties have been 
liberally offered and accepted to swell the depleted ranks of regiments in the 
field, as well as to constitute new forces. The miserable effect of that experi- 
ment is to make soldiers mere hirelings, under the false name of volunteers; 
to induce desertion in order to enlist in other regiments, for the sake of the 
bounty; to suggest to the soldier that he may act according to his own will; 
to suppress the sense of subjection to authority, to impair every military in- 
stinct, and to degrade and keep out of mind the supreme right of the government 
to command the service of any and every citizen who enjoys the protection of 
the government. 

I need not enlarge on the evidence of these efforts, nor further allude to the 
jealousies of the state authorities, nor indulge in denunciations of the dema- 
gogues who have been vociferous in discouraging the conscription. 

It is suiBcient to say that the Conscription Laws of the Thirty-seventh Con- 
gress are framed in view of all these impediments and prejudices. The execu- 
tion of them will demonstrate the sovereignty of the Constitution of the United 
States. The soldiers which they create will be soldiers indeed, who, entering 
the army in obedience to authority, will, from the start, learn to obey the stern 
requisitions of military rule, and will constitute an army governed by one will, 
moved by one plan, and marched to victory. 

For one, I rejoice in the Conscription Laws, as the edicts of that sovereignty 
on which our Union and our nationality depend. I anticipate the suppression 
of the rebellion, under the potency of the laws, which have developed the 
Constitution of the United States as the Eegis of our liberties, under law, and 
as the sovereign of the nation. 

There is no danger from the tyranny of our rulei-s, for the election of them 
recurs to the people at short periods. But while they are in power, let them 
b e rulers and not subjects. Let us unite to sustain them in their lawful pre- 
rogatives, and swear anew to support the gloi-ious Constitution which endows 
them with authority, and defends our rights. The Loyal National League is 
designed to invigorate and refresh our patriotism. It is like the Carthagenian 
father, who imposed the oath on his sou, never to cease wariare until the Ro- 
mans were overcome. So we renew our oaths, that, while this unnatural re- 
bellion shall not die by its own hand, but erects its defiant standard against the 
Flag of our Union, we will never cease to combat it till it is destroyed and 
shamed into infamy. 

Your obedient servant, 

FRANCIS VINTON. 
To James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, jr. 

LETTER OF REV. TH-OS. E. VERMILYE. 

20 East 37th street, 3Iarch 31, 1863. 

Sir : I have just received the letter of the Loyal National League invit- 
ing me to address an inaugural mass meeting, to be held at Union Square, 
on the 11th of April next — the anniversary of the day upon which the war 
upon the government was commenced in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. 

Most cordially do I approve the principles of the League as declared in your 
letter ; and I teel highly honored by the invitation you have sent me. Two 
years ago it was my privilege to officiate as one of the chaplains at the great 
mass meeting on Union Square, immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter, and 
to address our fellow-citizens iu regard to our duty in the exigency which re- 
bellion had brought us into, and again I will readily unite with my fellow- 
citizens and raise my voice for the unconditional support of our noble govern- 
ment, and for unconditional, uncompromising war with treason and rebellion. 



Our hajipy country, humaaity and religion — the present and the future — all 
are interested. 

I accept the invitation with which you have honored me, to address the 
meeting, and am. 

Very respectfully yours, 

THOS E. VERMILYE. 
J. A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, Sfc. 



LETTER OF REV. 0. B. FROTHINGHAM. 

No. 113 "West Thirty-fourth street, ) 

Marck nst, 1863. } 

My dear Sir : I appreciate at its full value the invitation extended to me to 
be one of the speakers at the mass meeting to be held on Union Square, April 
11th, and I would gladly respond to it with a promise to say something if I 
had not been sorely troubled, for more than a month, with a bronchial inflam- 
mation, which makes all public speaking difficult and painful, and would make 
out-of-door speaking all but impossible. 

Ever since I was a very young man, I have been a sturdy and uncompro- 
mising abolitionist, and nothing has occurred in these latter days to diminish 
the intensity of my conviction that slavery is the one root of bitterness and the 
one root of evil in this country. To it, and to nothing else, 1 trace the dreadful 
conflict in which we are engaged. In its utter extinction I find the only ground 
of hope for — not the " restoration of the Union," since union, in any worthy 
or intelligent sense, we never have enjoyed — but for the creation of union — 
the inauguration of constitutional authority — the birth of a truly national spirit, 
and the assurance of a firm and enduring peace. In my view, the war will end 
in nothing but impotency and disgrace, unless it ends in the elimination of the 
system of slavery, and the establishment of republican institutions in every part 
of the country: but I am also deeply persuaded that the war, if vigorously 
pushed, must end in this, as we see that it leads to this, implies this, involves 
this, eS'ects this, at every step'in its prosecution. The tread of the Union army 
unsettles the very foundation of the slave power ; the presence of the Union 
army is the presence of the northern civilization and of the genius of the cen- 
tury ; the occupation of the Union army is a sign that the black " Othello's oc- 
cupation's gone." The only head there is to hit is the head of an aristocracy 
whose basis is the ownership of man — whose armorial badge is a whip ; and 
every blow on that head is a blow for the dignity of man — for the rights of la- 
bor — for civil equality, social harmony, education, morality, and happiness. I 
am, therefore, an advocate of the most earnest and terrible prosecution of the 
war — of the most earnest support of the administration in its efforts to carry 
the war successfully on — of the most earnest pressure of the administration to- 
ward more determined endeavors in its prosecution. I will not quarrel with 
men respecting the motives, intents, wishes, purposes, policies, they cherish in 
connection with the war's conduct. Let them only conduct the war as war, in 
war's garb, on war principles, war ftishion, and the Powers above them will 
take care of the war's issue. 

I am, therefore, heart and conscience, with your Loyal National League : 
with the loyalty of it, the nationality of it, the manly and generous allegiance 
of it. To have reached this point of union for the prosecution of the war is an 
immense advance on any point hitherto reached in our struggle. It is a gain 
of moral strength to be devoutly grateful for ; and it hints at other gains more 
noble still — at no less a gain, in fact, than union for the maintenance of peace, 
liberty, equality, fraternity. 

With respect I am. 

Very cordially yours, 

0. B. FROTHINGHAM. 

James A. Roosevelt, Secretary, §-c. 



38 

LETTER OP REV. SAMUEL HANSON COX, 

4 East Thirtieth street, \ 
New York, March 31, 1863. ) 

Respected Sir: Iu reply, may I say, that he who owns no nation aa his 
deserves to be owned by none ; and as such to be excommunicated from the 
sublunary universe. He who, in this nation, is so sordid, so ignorant, so idiotic, 
as to have appreciative enthusiasm in no degree towards our own c pluribus 
unum, our many states in one nation ; towards our own national arch, of which 
the magnificence, all studded with stars, has no parallel in the world ; such a 
man deserves not the honors, nor even the protection — I had almost said, at 
home or abroad — of citizenship as an American ! No, sii-, we have too 
many such amorphous specimens among us, whose presence and influence could 
be of real value to no really noble cause, anywhere ! Hence, this noble na- 
tion may be stabbed to the heart by the matricides of the South, and might 
bleed and die, without affecting the sensibility or eliciting the grief either of 
these pseudo-patriots in our country or of their sympathizers anywhere ; that 
hate, about equally, the duties and the rights of man, provided their own im- 
punity may be left inaccessible and absolute. 

But I like the summons to all true men, that they show themselves in a Loyal 
National League, as true sons of such a noble mother ; as the virtual confreres 
of Washington and his compatriots of the Revolution, achieving our national 
existence ; as, under God, they did ; and then organized its freedom and its 
unity as a mighty nation ; with a Constitution of wonder and of worth ; to 
which was due, and almost ungrudgingly tendered, the admiration of man- 
kind. 

Our League is a symbol national, which posterity will quote with joy, which 
history shall record with pleasure, and which the world can read and inter- 
pret with reverence unfeigned. I am an American of the Americans ; and to 
all my issue, born and to be born, I say first, love your Redeemer ; second, love 
your country ! This, from that, the result. 

I am now an old man, if my seventieth year can so define me ; no office-hun- 
ter; no partisan ; neither bought nor sold, nor in the market. But, if I know 
myself, I love my country, my species, my felloAV-citizens ; the cause of civiliza- 
tion, learning, good manners, rational liberty universal ; the duties .and the 
rights of all mankind ; this, as the result of my birth and nurture in this land ; 
of some extensive inspection and comparison of this Avith other lauds ; most of 
all for more than fifty years, if I mistake not, of knowing and loving the only 
LIVING AND TRUE God; who made us all; w 11 judge us all; and bless and 
save all who truly love and obey him. I hope to live and die, praying for 
HIS Kingdom to come ; for my country to stay ; and grow, greater and better, 
till the second coming of my Saviour, the Son of man ! thus finishing all mun- 
dane histoi-y. 

With high consideration and respect, yOur compatriot and friend, 

SAMUEL HANSON COX. 

P, S. — On the 11th of April I hope to be with you and say something if 
desired, or as you already request. 

James A. .Roosevelt, Esq., 

Sec. Loyal National League, 

94 Maiden Lane, New York. 



39 

LETTER OF REV. BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT. 

New York, April 1, 1863. 

Dear Sir : No declaration can be more true than that he who falters in 
devotion to his country in this the hour of its greatest peril, is proved thereby 
utterly unworthy of any birthright or inheritance in it. It ia one of the high- 
est of all forms of duty to God and the human race to love and serve our 
country at all times, and especially when it most needs and expects our assist- 
ance. One of the basest of all possible remembrances on earth will they hand 
down to their posterity who shall be known in after-years to have stood by 
and held the garments of those who, in this dark day of our history, undertook 
to save our mother-country, the common parent of us all. 

May God defend the right and bless the brave, and greatly enlarge the ever- 
growing area of human freedom ! Can any one that knows his God, or reads 
history intelligently, or looks out hopefully on the future of the human race, 
doubt whether he will or not ? This is the holiest of all wars, in its principles 
and objects, as it will be the grandest in its issues. 

Yours in full and warm oneness of feeling with all who love our sacred 
cause. 

BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, cj-c. 



LETTER OF REV. J. T. DURYEA. 

26 West Thirty-sixth street, N. Y. City, | 
Apnl 7, 1863. j 

Dear Sir . Having already devoted more time and strength than I can well 
spare from professional duties during the past week, and the present, to labors 
for the soldiers and seamen of the army and navy ; seeking, by ministering to 
them, to discharge the debt of Christian charity and gratitude to the defenders 
of our nationality, and a. citizen's inevitable obligation to his government; and 
knowing that persons well known to the people and influential among them, 
will be eager to address you, I desire respectfully to decline so conspicuous a 
part in your proceedings. Permit me, however, to give my hearty concurrence 
and deepest sympathy with your movement. The objects, doctrines, senti- 
ments, and spirit of your Association appeal to every loyal heart. Every man 
true to God, to his country, and to mankind, must bid you fervently " God 
speed." 

You exhibit the true issues of this momentous crisis. This is a struggle for 
national existence ; and our existence is dependent on unity of government. 
God has fixed the conditions of national life. Where there are unity of terri- 
tory, sameness of language and religion, community of interests, national life 
tends to unity. Thwart the life in its organic tendency to unity, it will either 
painfully burst its bands and force for itself unity, or succumb — and then cor- 
ruption and decay ensue. 

We are in possession of all the conditions of nationality. Physical geogra- 
phy lays the foundation. No oceans intersect our broad plateau ; no Alps dis- 
sever it; it is one. We have a common language; a religion essentially iden- 
tical. The past proves that our material and social interests are common. 
Under these conditions our national life came to unity. The colonies tended 
to the confederation — the confederacy to a " more perfect union." 

Let this unity be broken at this stage of our development, the life of the na- 
tion will assert itself, and force a new unity, or it will yield, and death must 



40 

inevitably ensue. History reads us our doom. Examples are too familiar to 
be mentioned. 

Let us be warned. We are either rising, regenerated, to send a thrill of 
national life tliat will reorganize the shattered members into a new body, or 
we shall sink back in feebleness to die ! 

Let this government fall, and section will war against section, through the 
inevitable collision of interests, until we become self-annihilated ; or, worn out 
in patience, spirit, and resources, we shall, for relief and rest, fling ourselves 
into the arms of some interfering tyrant, and come to the unity of despotism. 

Go on, then, in your work. Set this issue before the people. Ring out the 
alarm ! Tone up the public mind, and rouse the national heart. Let the war- 
ary be, UnitYj Life, Libertv, Destiny! against Disunion, Decay, Despot- 
ism, Doom ! 

Very respectfully, yours, 

J. T. DURYEA. 

P. S. — If you fail to complete your corps of speakers, I will not withhold 
my voice. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., ,: 

Secretary Loyal League. 



LETTER OF THE REV. A. H. VINTON. 

St. Mark's Rectory, April 8. 1863. 

Dear Sir ; Allow me to thank you for the invitation to address the mass 
meeting of the Loyal National League. 

Although obliged to decline your courtesy, I am glad of the opportunity to 
say that my convictions and feelings chime in entire harmony with the pur- 
poses of the League. 

As an instrument for giving voice to the pent-up loyalty of the people's 
great heart, its organization is most timely. For that sentiment had been so 
long pent up that its power had begun in some quarters to be despised, and 
its very existence denied. 

Expression will give it fresh life and added power, and its joint expression 
will insure its triumph. 

I have never, indeed, permitted myself to doubt that the issue of our terri- 
ble conflict would establish the supremacy of the great principle of our na- 
tional unity, for it is assured to us alike by history, by geography, and by 
faith : By faith, because the massing together of all the tribes of the earth, in 
this great land, under a political system Adapted to develop the highest man- 
hood of the race, is an experiment of Divine Providence too sublime to fail. 
By geography, because the rivers and the mountains forbid the distinction of 
North and South. By history, because every nation that has achieved stabil- 
ity has marched to it always through two kinds of conflict, viz. : a foreign war, 
to determine its boundaries ; and a civil war, to adjust and fix its polity. 

We have fought and finished the series of outward conflicts, and there re- 
mained of necessity the interior battle of ideas before the national unity could 
be pronounced impregnable. 

This is our present crisis, and, by the threefold light, our struggle seems 
full of promise. 

The principle of national unity, having life in itself, will prove itself sover- 
eign ; while the rival passion of secession being, like other passions, suicidal, 
Will perish from its own violence, and then the League of Loyalty will embrace 
the whole nation. 



41 

With this fixed hope, I cheerfully lend my voice to hail its inauguration, and 
bid it God-speed. 

I am, dear sir, 

Vei-y respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

ALEX. H. VINTON. 
To James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary^ ^c. 



LETTER OF REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG. 

St. George's Rectory, April 6, 1863. 

My Dear Sir : I greatly honor and rejoice in the formation of the Loyal 
National League. But my health this spring forbids such effort as an address 
in the open air. It vrould be a great pleasure to me could I add auj'thing to 
the noble rising spirit of unconditional devotion to our country and our Consti- 
tution, which seems now to render sure the hope of coming from this vast con- 
flict as a free and finally established nation. 

Your friend and servant, 

STEPHEN H. TYNG. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq. 



FROM THE REV. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON. 

} 



32 West 36th Street, 
April 6, 1863. 



Dear Sir: Gladly would I accept the invitation to address the Loyal Na- 
tional League, on the 11th inst., did not a severe cold forbid my speaking in the 
open air. It gives me no surprise and no discouragement that the second an- 
niversary of the attack on Fort Sumter finds us still in an undecided struggle 
for the lif J, the unity, the liberty of the nation. From the first I anticipated 
nothing short of a three years' war, and nothing less than a struggle involving 
all our resources, and testing all our faith ; and therefore, I accept disasters and 
reverses without wavering, and hold myself ready for every possible service 
and sacrifice for my country, unto the end. 

UnconditioNial loyalty to the government — uncompromising hostility to its 
enemies — unsparing devotion to its defenders — unswerving opposition tofoi'eign 
interference under whatever disguise — unshrinking sacrifices for Union, Jus- 
tice, Liberty — no Union with slavery — no disunion for slavery — the Union 
for Liberty — these are the principles and declarations by which I stand 
through all the fluctuations of the hour, till God shall give us peace in right- 
eousness. 

Your ob't servant, 

JOS. P. THOMPSON. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq. 



^2 



LETTER OF REV. ORESTES A. BROWNSON. 

Elizabeth, N. J., April 11, 1863. 

Dear Sir: It would give me great pleasure to comply with the invitation 
of the Loyal National League, to address the mass meeting to-day at Union 
Square, but the state of my health renders it impossible. 

My views of the present national crisis are well known. I am an uncondi- 
tional Union man. I can make no compromise with rebels, and accept no 
peace that does not secure the supremacy of the government and the integrity 
of the national territory. 

With great respect, I have the honor to be 

Your obedient servant, 

0. A. BROWNSON. 

Jas. a. Roosevelt, Esq. 



LETTER OF REV. SAMUEL COOKE. 

New York, April 8, 1863. 

My dear Sir : I have received your invitation to address the mass meet- 
ing of the Loyal National League, to be held at Union Square, on Saturday, 
the 11th inst. 

Other calls and duties will prevent me from so doing ; and I therefore avail 
myself of this opportunity to say that the principles which you announce in the 
pledge as the guides and objects of your association, seem to me to cover the 
entire ground of patriotic action in the present state of our national aiFairs. It 
is entirely clear to my mind, that our land can have no rest, either in the near 
or remote future, unless the people succeed in " maintaining unimpaired our na- 
tional unity, both in principle and territorial boundary." Neither can I see 
how this is to be done except by "unconditional loyalty to the government of 
the United States, and by an earnest support of its efforts to suppress the re- 
bellion.'"' « 

We may cry "peace — peace;" but there will be no peace for us, or for our 
children, save in the complete subdual and overthrow of the men who claim 
to be the government of the Confederate States, and who care nothing for ruin 
if thereby they can rule. They represent nothing but themselves, for we have 
no evidence that a single Southern State was ever fairly voted out of the 
Union, except South Carolina. We have reason, moreover, to believe that, at 
this moment, a majority of the voters of the Southern States are, in heart, with 
the federal government, and not with Hie new confederacy. But be that as it 
may, and with a full appreciation of the losses, and horrors, and miseries of 
war, I can see no path opening into restored peace, and renewed prosperity 
and happiness, but that which you indicate in the letter to which this is a 
reply. 

I am, most truly yours, 

SAMUEL COOKE. 
Mr. James A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Loyal National League. 



43 

LETTER OF THE HON. ROBERT DALE OWEN. 

New York, April 10, 1863. 

Sir : In reply to the invitation so kindly extended to me to be present and 
deliver an address, on the Sumter Anniversary, next Saturday, suifer me to ex- 
press my regret that the imperative character of the duties which I have as- 
sumed, as chairman of a Commission recently created to investigate and report 
upon the condition of the colored population emancipated by acts of Con- 
gress and by the President's Proclamation, and to suggest measures for their 
protection and government, forbids my acceptance of what would otherwise 
have been a pleasant duty. 

But, in thus reluctantly declining, you will allow me, perhaps, a few brief 
remarks suggested by the occasion, and by the present critical condition of the 
country. 

No man familiar with history expected that the first burst of enthusiasm, 
aroused two years since by the cannonade of Fort Sumter, and which s'ent 
half a million of volunteers into the field, would endure through a protracted 
war. Such things never happen. Reaction comes by necessity. The wonder 
is, not that it showed itself last autumn in political reverses, but that it did not 
come upon us sooner. And we may well be surprised and encouraged that the 
dark season has been so brief, and that the day is already at hand. One of the 
latest signs of the morning dawn is the noble victory in Connecticut. I predict 
that the thousands who will assemble next Saturday to renew, with fresh en- 
thusiasm, after the sober second thought of two years' ordeal, their vows of loy- 
alty to the Union, will be another. 

That reaction had no deep or solid foundation. It was due, in a measure, to 
the natural impatience under temporary reverses, of a people unaccustomed to 
war, evincing itself in a restless desire for change. That impatience was 
doubtless quickened by the fact, that, before and at the time of the autumn 
elections, there were many things in the administration of public aS'airs im- 
peratively demanding reform. Could it be otherwise, when a million of nien 
were suddenly called into the field from a nation at profound peace, and with 
scarcely any warlike experience ? 

But even as to the worst errors of administration that have been com- 
mitted, we may regard them under two phases. Are we sure that they have 
not been overruled for good ? 

When I find, in a recent report on the conduct of the war, proofs of all the 
short-comings that have marked its progress ; when I read there of golden 
opportunities lost — of the fairest hopes of victory dashed and blighted — I see 
in all this more than the incapacity of man. I see the finger of God. Had 
there be no fatal blunders made by our generals in command — had our troops 
been led as wisely as they fought bravely — the war might indeed have been 
closed last summer. Six months ago we might have concluded a peace. But 
can we believe that it would have begn a peace on an enduring foundation — 
one to last, not during a few anxious years of our lives, but a peace for our 
children, and for their children after them ? Had we, then, siitlered enough, 
and thought enough, and felt enough, to do this 1 I do not believe it. Nor 
was it to be expected. Consider w-hat lay at the basis of this struggle — an 
evil, of proportions so gigantic that in its eradication was involved the social 
condition of four millions of people, and the industrial and commercial interests 
of six millions more. Was it likely that we could reach the solution of a prob- 
lem so vast, so momentous, through a few months of war, through a few 
months of thought ? 

Two battles had to be fought : one in the field, physical force against physi- 
cal force, in which the sword is the arbiter : the other at home, with weapons 
less violent but more powerful. Here had to be fought the battle against 
moral wrong, the battle against old abuse, the battle against long-hardened 
prejudice. And it availed nothing to close the war with the sword, if the 



44 

war of opinion was still at issue and undecided. We forgot tliis in the first 
din of arms. We are awake to its importance now. 

There should be an addition to Jefferson's celebrated axiom : " Error of 
opinion may safely be tolerated, if reason is left free to combat it." It is not 
enough that reason be left free. She must be up and doing. She must bestir 
herself. If she spends her freedom in idleness, if she sits listlessly, by with 
her hands across, error will steal a march upon her and win the battle. God 
works, but he works by human means. It is encouraging to perceive that 
loyal men are becoming convinced of these truths, and are acting upon the con- 
viction. It is encouraging to believe — as most firmly I do — that the tri- 
umphant success which awaits your demonstration on the Sumter Anniversary, 
will aid the good cause as surely and effectually as a brilliant victory achieved 
by force of arms. 

Oh that anniversary we may well pause to consider what cause it was, 
breaking in upon eighty years of good fellowship, outraging the domestic 
tranquillity of a continent, that directed against Anderson and his gallant band, 
then in the discharge of their official duty, a bombardment by their fellow- 
citizens. 

We are not left to conjecture that cause. Three weeks before fire was 
opened on Fort Sumter, the gentleman elected by the insurrectionary states 
as their Vice President, boldly and unreservedly proclaimed it. On the 21st of 
March, 18G1, Alexander H. Stephens, addressing an immense crowd at Savannah, 
Georgia, publicly declared, that "African slavery was the immediate cause of 
the late rupture and the present revolution ;" and that " slavery is the negro's 
natural and moral condition." He went further. He added : " This, our 
new government, is the fii-st, in the histoi-y of the world, based upon this great 
physical, philosophical, and moral truth.'"'" 

There are some things which cannot be done in this world — they are morally 
impossible. And this project to erect, in the nineteenth century, a great em- 
pire on the basis of human slavery, is one of them. We may not be the agents 
to subvert it. We may act the coward, and suffer defeat ; we may play the 
submissionist, and assent, for the time, to slavery's supremacy. But it will per- 
ish none the less. The very advance of the world will destroy it. The irre- 
sistible current of human Progress will sweep it away. 

The question is not whether that slave-based government shall fall. The 
only question is, whether we, connecting our fortunes with a system inevitably 
doomed to destruction, shall be involved with it in one common ruin. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

ROB'T DALE OWEN. 
To James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary Loyal National League, New York . 



LETTER OF HON. LYMAN TRExMAIN. 

Albany, April lOth, 1863. 

Sir : I have received your invitation to address a mass meeting at Union 
Square, on the 11th instant, but other engagements will place it beyond my 
power to accept it. 

I have perused with satisfaction the pledge of the Loyal National League. 
It is brief, but comprehensive, and its terms are so general, and yet so patri- 
otic, that no American citizen can object to them, unless he is a traitor or in 
sympathy with treason. 

The day you have selected for your meeting is quite appropriate. Various 
phases in the condition of the public mind, and in regard to the future result 



45 

of our great struggle, have been developed during the two years that have 
elapsed since the overt act of war was committed at Fort Sumter. The ardor 
and novelty exhibited in the first uprising of the people to resent the insult of- 
fered to the national flag, have passed away. Weak and timid men, home along 
for the moment by the popular current, but having no permanent principle of 
action, have manifested symptoms of wavering and despondency, because the 
rebellion did not fall before the first blow. Necessary evils, resulting from a 
war unexampled in its proportions, together with the incidental burdens and 
restraints imposed upon the citizens by the acts of our constituted authorities, 
have enabled designing and ambitious leaders, who would prefer the success 
of treason to the triumph of the government under its present administration, 
to acquire a temporary success that, to the superficial observer, seemed to indi- 
cate a dissatisfaction with the war. 

The boldness, however, manifested by the plotters against the government, 
has been productive of salutary results. Good men, who had been deceived as 
to their purpose, have taken the alarm. Public sentiment is finally comingf to 
the conclusion that there can be no middle ground to be occupied between the 
fi'iends and the enemies of our government. 

Union leagues are capable of doing much good, in developing public opinion 
and giving it the proper direction, as well as counteracting the misrepresenta- 
tions of those croakers and disloyal men who lose no opportunity to mislead 
and corrupt the popular sentiment. 

Present indications ore encouraging. Recent Congressional legislation, by 
dedicating all the men, money, and other resources of the nation, to the work of 
overthrowing this rebellion, has given to the people of the loyal states, to the 
rebels, and to the world, a pledge of the terrible earnestness of the govern- 
ment and the people which has produced beneficial fruits. Many of the ques- 
tions which were new, and in the earlier stages of the war, have been adroitly 
used to embarrass the administration, are being determined by the action of the 
legislative and judicial departments of the government. Whether the power 
to suspend the habeas corpus, where a necessity exists, belongs to the President 
or to Congress is no longer a practical question, because by the recent act of 
Congress, the President is invested with all the authority which Congress can 
confer in addition to that which pertains to his high office. By its recent de- 
cision, declaring that the stocks and securities of the United States are exempt 
from state taxation, the 'Supreme Court of the United States has rendered 
effective the money-borrowing power of the national government — a power 
essential to carrying out the constitutional authority of raising and supporting 
armies. This same high tribunal has by its recent decision, in the prize cases, 
set at rest an objection which has been urged very generally and in high 
quarters, against the President's proclamation, and which would be equally 
available against any other act of war on the part of the general government 
or of the commander-in-chief, to the effect that it is invalid, unless it makes a 
distinction between the property of Jloyal and disloyal citizens in the rebel 
states. 

This objection being fairly and fully stated is thus authoritati\^ly overthrown 
by the Court: " Under our peculiar Constitution, although the citizens owe 
supreme allegiance to the federal government, they o^\ e also a qualified alle- 
giance to the states in which they are domiciled ; their, persons and property 
are subject to its laws ; hence in organizing this rebellion they have acted as 
states claiming to be sovereign over all persons and property within their re- 
spective limits and asserting aright to absolve their citizens from their allegi- 
ance to the federal government. Several of these states have combined to form 
a new confederacy, claiming to be acknowledged by the world as a sovereign 
state. Their right to do so is now being tested by wager of battle — the ports 
and territory of each of those states are held in hostility to the general govern- 
ment. It is no loose, unorganized insurrection, having no defined boundary 
or possession. It has a boundary marked by lines of bayonets and which can 



46 

be crossed only by force. South of this line is enemies' territory. All persons 
residing within this territory whose 'property may he used to increase the revenues 
of the hostile power are in this condition liable to be treated as enemies though not 
foreigners.'' 

Encouraged by these manifestations, let us sustain all the acts of our public 
authorities honestly intended to crush out tliis rebellion, including all laws, 
until they are pronounced invalid by the courts. Let the lines be more dis- 
tinctly drawn between those who, no matter what may have been their politi- 
cal antecedents, arc now unconditional supporters of the government, and 
those who are either against it or for it with conditions and provisoes. 

Let us discard wholly all subordinate issues and mere partisan obligations, 
and let the question be squarely met of union or disunion, loyalty or treason. 
Our brave soldiers have gone forth to fight, and, if necessary, to die in the 
field. They are united, and republicans, and democrats, Americans, whigs, 
an4 abolitionists, are marching forward, side by side, and shoulder to shoulder. 
Why cannot we also be united at home ? Why not cheer, sustain, and 
strengthen our noble armies by presenting the spectacle of a people sub- 
stantially united ? Our sacrifices and sufferings, serious as they are, are 
scarcely to be named in comparison with the sacrifices and sufferings already 
suffered by the rebels. 

The glorious objects to bo accomplished by our success, the priceless value 
of the Constitution and Union we would preserve, the millions of treasure al- 
ready expended, and the thousands of lives sacrificed for that object ; the na- 
tional degradation and ruin which will be the result if we fail in the contest, 
demand that the war be pressed forward with all the power and means at our 
command. 

There can be no peace with these traitors until they are vanquished. We must 
conquer them or they will conquer us. Away, then, with the wretched cry of 
" Peace," " Peace," when we know thei-e can be no real peace except one achiev- 
ed by the valor of our armies and the success of our arms. Let us resolve that 
whether this contest continues months or years, it must go on until the victory 
is won. To filter or yield now, or to fight with only half our powers, would 
cover us with eternal disgrace. It is quite clear that we must fight, and rea- 
sonably certain that we shall win. The question is coming down to one of 
endurance, resources, and numbers, and hence the probabilities of success are 
all on the side of the government ■" 

On, then, with the good cause ! Let no Union man fiilter or turn back. 
Trusting to our own right arms, to the righteousness of our cause, and to the 
favor of an overruling Providence, let us press onward, indulging the confident 
expectation of re-establishing our national authority throughout the entire 
States and Territories of the Union. 

Yours, very truly, 

LYMAN TllEMAIN. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., "* 

^cretary of the Loyal National League. 



LETTER OF HON. LORENZO SHERWOOD, LATE OF TEXAS. 

New York, April 10, 1863. 

Gentlemen : I am in receipt of your very kind note of the 8th, inviting me 
to attend, as one of the speakers, at the meeting to be held at Union Square 
on the lith inst. You will please accept my thanks for the compliment. If, 
in bestowing it, you have gone too far by inviting me as one of the speakers, 
you have not over-estimated my anxiety for the great cause. 

I say great cause, for the reason that no cause, in its manifold iacidents, has 
ever been greater. History records no other like it. In the Revolutionary 
struggle, the contest involved the establishment and maintenance of an outpost 



47 

of civilization founded upon the theory of protection to natural rights. What 
was then an outpost has grown to be a centre, and is regarded as such, not 
only by political philosophers and lovers of free government, but also by the 
antagonistic political forces of the whole world. The American theory of 
natural rights, a population of more than thirty millions having all the 
motives in combination to maintain these natural rights, and a continent as a 
platform upon which to exert them in connection with an expanding power, 
make this nation the centre of a civilization upon the highest and most sacred 
of all political theories — the acknowledged right of man to be free, under well- 
regulated self-government. . 

Our theory, adopted for the protection of popular rights through the dis- 
tribution of power, and of giving effect to such distribution of power by means 
of the elective franchise, has been attacked by the anti-democratic or anti- 
republican influences of the South. A minority of the Southern population 
has set out, not for a new. but for an old form of government — a form of gov- 
ernment that has not kept pace with the advancement of political philosopliy 
on this continent. European forms and European privileges in class power 
are sought to be reintroduced, in opposition to the interdict in our fundamental 
law forbidding the establishing of any order of nobility. The form of gov- 
ernment which our fathers had repudiated as inconsistent with justice, and not 
adapted to the protection of popular rights, is now insisted upon as a means 
for advancing and upholding the remnant of barbarism still existing in the 
southern portion of the Union. 

This is the cause of the attempted revolution. We cannot disguise the na- 
ture or character of the present conflict of arms. It is purely political. It 
arises out of antagonisms, the very opposite of each other. It springs from 
the theory, not new. but recently promulgated as an excuse for revolution — 
^'' that slavery and democracy are incompatible.''' If we allow the conspirators 
to be the expositors of their own meaning, we need not be at a loss to divine 
their objects. It is clearly apparent that they intend to free their institution 
from the danger of republican government, to secure it by abrogating a gov- 
ernment of majorities in the South, and to perpetuate it by the establishment of 
a cemented and hereditary slave aristocracy. 

This is the political, material, and war meaning of the rebellion. The real 
issue is this : Shall we maintain our national unity, and in connection there- 
with that clause of the Constitution which guarantees to the people of all the 
states republican government ? or, shall we allow the antagonistic theory, 
which the conspirators have set up, to prevail ? When we adopt the true 
theory of the war, and popularize that theory, the rebellion will have lost nearly 
the whole of its political as well as its physical force. When the conspiracy 
is stripped of its disguises, it is then shorn of its strength : surrounded by its 
disguises, it has been made to appear formidable, and has been made formidable 
for a season through imposition and concealed treachery. The rebellion is for- 
midable or weak precisely in proportion as its motives and objects become 
known to the popular mind of the nation. Fifteen hundred thousand is the 
force on the one hand ; twenty-seven millions, or thereabouts, fs the natural 
force on the other. The one is in favor of repudiating republican govern- 
ment, the other in favor of maintaining it. This is the natural arrangement of 
forces when the objects of the rebellion are definitely made known. In this 
conflict between the democratic and anti-democratic forces of the nation, 
nothing is more essential to the national cause than that the issue should be 
definitely understood. Give to the people the real issue as it is, and they 
will make the result as it ought to be. 

Annexed to this note, I send a copy of the New fork Senate resolutions. 
I do so for the reason that they may be incorporated with the expressions of 
patriotic sentiment now flowing in upon your committee from all parts of 
the country. It was a happy omen for the success of our cause, when the 
Senate of this state flung away its partyism, and invited our people to come 



48 

and stand side by side on the ground of patriotism alone. Most wisely are the 
people responding to that generous and praiseworthy invitation. The day that 
these resolutions passed the senate will be remembered as a day that afforded 
the harbinger of assured strength that was to grow out of a consolidated deter- 
mination of our people to stand in unity in suppressing the rebellion. 
With appreciative regard and sympathy in all your efficient efforts, 
I am most cordially and truly vours, &c. 

LORENZO SHERWOOD. 
To the Council and Committee of the Loyal National League, New York. 



NEW TOKK SENATE RESOLUTIONS. 
Passed Fehruarij 13, 1863. 

[Referred to in the letter of the Hon. Lorenzo Sherwood.] 

Whereas, The political influences now controlling the rebellion have defined 
their motives and positions by announcing that " Slavery and Democracy are 
incompatible," and that they are "irreconcilable antagonisms ;"' and, 

Whereas, also, It now plainly appears that the slaveholders'" rebellion origi- 
nated in a conspiracy against the principles of free government as well as 
against the national unity ; therefore. 

Resolved, As the sense of this legislature, that it has become a question for 
the American people, as well as for the advocates of liberal government every- 
where, whether slavery shall perish, or the principles of free government be 
overthrown and prostrated. 

Resolved, That free government in the Soutli had nearly ceased to exist pre- 
vious to the inauguration of open rebellion ; that in the execrable preparation 
for open rebellion, civil liberty had been stricken down and public opinion 
had become the result of regulation by mobs; that the management of the in- 
cidents of that rebellion has been a mere continuation of an execrable system of 
coercion, inaugurated by slaveholding traitors who had long plotted the over- 
throw of free government in the South. 

Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States guarantees to the people 
of all the states free republican government ; that this is the absorbing feature 
of our whole political system and the highest behest of our fundamental law; 
that there is no reserved power by the states or incident of state sovereignty 
that has or can have acknowledged existence in opposition to this fundamen- 
tal guaranty; that in maintaining this guaranty of free government against all 
antagonisms, we maintain the Constitution as it was, as it is^ and as it should 
be. 

Resolved, That the despicable sympathy expressed by political circles in 
Europe in favor of the overthrow of vleniocratic government in the United 
States, is precisely what the American people had a right to expect ; that the 
expression of sympathy by the masses of Europe, in ftxvor of maintaining our 
free government against the acknowledged antagonism of slavery, is also what 
we had a right to expect ; but that any portion of our free countrymen of the 
North should have joined the coalition between traitors and European despot- 
ism to overthrow the national unity, is what no patriot in our country had any 
right to expect. 

Resolved, That we hereby absolve ourselves from allegiance to all party, ex- 
cepting that great party of American freemen who are determined to stand by the 
question of national unity and free government; to this great party we cor- 
dially tender the hand of fellowship and unity. We call upon the people of 
this great state to stand by this cause with one accord, and to maintain it with 
all their might, and power, and means, and credit, and to exhibit no hesitation 
or faltering until this cause is made triumphant. 



49 

Resolved, further, That we call upon the legislatures of the loyal states of 
this Uuion, upon Congress, and upon the President of the United States, and 
invite them, clearly and distinctly, to present to their countrymen, North and 
South, the great issue between free government on the one hand and the an- 
tagonism of slavery set up by the. conspirators against free government on 
the other ; that we not only believe, but know with moral certainty, that when 
this question is well and definitely understood by the masses, it will bring into 
political affiliation and unity the free labor force of the whole Union. 

Resolved, That as the representatives of the people of New York, we send the 
tender regards of our whole people to the brave men composing the army and 
navy of the Union ; that while we cherish their names and brave deeds in af- 
fectionate remembrance, we pledge to them the firm and vigorous support of 
our people in every way and fortn possible to make such support available. 
It is theirs, through patriotic bravery, to achieve success ; it is ours, as their 
grateful countrymen, to honor them for it. 



LETTER OF THE HON. J. I. CLARK HARE, OF PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia, April 8, 1863. 

Dear Sir : Reasons which I will not detain you by stating, prevent me 
from accepting the kind invitations of your Committee, received to-day, to 
address the inaugural mass meeting of the Loyal National League, to be held 
on the anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter. 

I regret that I cannot take part in the proceedings of a meeting, called to 
commemorate the great event which seems to have been intended by Divine 
Providence to teach the American people how to meet and bear disaster, and 
convert defeat into the occasion of victory. 

Present or absent, the heart of every lover of his country will be with you, 
and remain firm in the belief that we shall, through your efforts, and those of 
true patriots everywhere throughout the land, succeed in vindicating our 
honor, and existence as a nation, by the suppression alike of our open foes and 
of the secret enemies who seek to mislead us under the guise of friendship. 

Yours, respectfully, 

James A. Roosevelt, Ji^sQ , J. I. CLARK HARE. 

Sec'y Loyal National League. 

LETTER OF THE HON. JAMES WADSWORTH. 

58 Liberty St., New York, April 10, 1863. 

Dear Sir : Inadvertence, amid the hourly pressure of important business, 
has alone prevented my earlier reply 4o the very courteous invitation of your- 
self, as well as of your Committee, to address our fellow-citizens on the occa- 
sion of the mass meeting of to-morrow. I shall be with you in heart, and soul, 
and person, and speak if I can. 

I am not well, but, believing that the stvord was given to man that none 
might be slaves, save those who lack the courage or the skill to use it, and that 
in this time of armed rebellion the only proper peacemakers of the hour are 
the loaded cannon and the lighted torch in the hands of a Union-loving sol- 
diery, you may always count on my voice and arm being lifted wherever in 
the judgment of my fellows it can advance the cause of constitutional liberty 
and the wants of the Republic. 

With my kind regards to your coadjutors of the Committee, 

I am, truly yours, 

John Austin Stevens, Esq., J. WADSWORTH. 

Chairman of Committee of Arrangements. 

4 



50 

LETTER OF HON. MURRAY HOFFMAN. 

New York, 3Iarck 31, 1863. 

Dear Sir : I 'greatly regret my inability to address the meeting of the 
Loyal National League, in compliance with the invitation with which I have 
been honored. 

No one has a deeper sense of the unsurpassed guilt of this rebellion ; of the 
humiliation and ruin which will attend its success ; and of the gratitude due 
from every friend of freedom and civilization to those who are struggling to 
suppress it. May their efforts speedily find an end in their perfect triumph ! 

Yours, very respectfully, 

MURRAY HOFFMAN. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, j-c. 



LETTER OF HON. JAMES W. WHITE. 

New York, 341 Fifth Avenue, ) 
April 11, 1863. \ 

Dear Sir : I regret that it will not be in my power to comply with the in- 
vitation of the Loyal National League, to address the mass meeting to be held 
to-day on Union Square. Sickness and death in my family detain me from 
the meeting ; but 1 am with it heartily in its spirit and purpose. 

No one was more scrupulously solicitous than I always was, to avoid every 
interference with the domestic institutions of the slaveholding states : but when 
those states wantonly and wickedly rose up to destroy our national integrity, 
power, and glory, for the sake of that human slavery that was our scandal and 
reproach before Christendom, 1 promptly sympathized with all those whose 
hearts beat quickest and strongest, and who looked to the most energetic, 
radical, and permanent' measures for the suppression of the rebellion, and the 
preservation of our republic, whole and intact, in its majesty and right, terri- 
torial and political. 

I have felt deeply, that the preservation of our republican idea (which must 
perish if the rebellion can be successful) was worth more to the human race 
than all the lives and all the material wealth embraced at any one point of 
time V ithin the limits of the United States. I did not, and do not, desire to 
survive the fall and ruin of my country and her free Republican institutions. 
If but the mere germ of that Repul^licanism can be preserved, to grow and 
fructify, and expand in the future, in all its mild and genial beneficence, I 
have always felt, and still feel, that it would be cheaply purchased at the sac- 
rifice of all that we have to offer of life and property. That these sentiments 
animate the great body of our people, tfannot be doubted. Your meeting to 
day will, I hope, furnish fresh evidence of that truth. The past two years are 
replete with it ; and if ever we should feel proud of the title of American 
Citizens, it should be in view of those two years just past, during which our 
people en masse have so often shown themselves ready to come forth and suf- 
fer and die for the glory of the nation, and the maintenance, under God, of the 
great living principle of justice and human freedom which he has confided to 
us to cherish and defend. 

There are many suggestions — practical ones — that I would desire to urge, but 
I have not the time. I will only say that whatever may be the reverses that we 
shall meet with, whatever may be the delays or the treacheries that shall em- 
barrass or obstruct us, we must be inexorable in the determination that we 
shall never cease our efforts ; but, on the contrary, shall continually increase 
and multiply them until the national authority is restored to every inch of ter- 
ritory that at any time acknowledged the supremacy of the United States. 



51 

Acting in this spirit, and holding every officer and public servant, civil and 
military, from the highest to the lowest, strictly accountable for the uses to 
which he may apply, or neglect to apply, the resources of the nation committed 
to him, it will be speedily seen that the rebellious power that is arrayed against 
us, even though succored by any amount of foreign recognition or intervention, 
must yield and disappear before the resolute and exhaustless energy that we 
shall thus bring to bear upon it. 

I am, dear sir, with much respect. 
Your obedient servant, 

JAMES W. WHITE. 
James A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Loyal National League. 



LETTER OF JAMES T. BRADY, ESQ. 

New York, April 11, 1863. 

My dear Sir : My throat and voice are in such a condition that it will be 
out of my power to speak at the meeting of the League this afternoon. 

I need not say how anxious I am to assist in every honorable movement de- 
signed to secure, on the part of the North, unanimity of sentiment and action 
in preserving the Constitution and Union, and securing the perpetuity of our 
republic. 

The attachments and obligations of party will be considered by our people 
in contests of a party character, but should be entirely laid aside in the single 
effort to save the nation's life from the deadly blows aimed against it by trai- 
tors. When we have secured the physical and moral triumph, sure to come, 
sooner or later, we will punish infractions of the Constitution through the bal- 
lot-boxes and courts of justice. 

But in the prosecution of the present war, to prevent twenty millions of the 
North disgracefully succumbing to eight millions at the South, we will, 1 hope, 
give the administration a hearty and unwavering support. 

Yours, very truly, 

JAMES T. BRADY. 

Mr. John Austin STEvE'^fs, Jr. 



LETTER OF THE HON. HENRY WINTER DAVIS, OF MARYLAND. 

Baltimore, April 10, 1863. 

Dear Sib : I have postponed my reply till this time, in the vain hope that 
I might be able to accept your polite invitation. To my great disappointment, 
I am at the last moment compelled to forego the pleasure of participating in 
your loyal demonstration. 

No one watched with more anxiety than I did, the treacherous attempt of 
the enemies of the government to paralyze it by getting possession of the 
House of Representatives and of the state governments. No one rejoices more 
than I do over the failure of that conspiracy, so nearly successful, and which, 
if successful, must have proved fatal to the United States government or 
plunged the loyal states into the horrors of a revolution. I am thankful that 
the danger is passed ; that the people are now awake to the plot against their 
liberties which they were so near consummating under the guidance of faith- 
less and ambitious leaders ; and that the rushing current of popular reaction 
has driven not a few to disavow their designs, apologize for their blindness, and 
openly to execrate the purposes of those with whom they acted. 

Henceforth the people will know that the enemies of the government are 
those who fail to support all its vigorous measures ; that the cry for peace is 



52 

treachery ; that sympathy for southern brethren is hostility to our loyal brethren ; 
and that all who are not with us are traitors to be watched, and not patriots 
to be trusted. 

The nation now knows that the result of the war is a question of endurance, 
of resources, of tenacity of purpose, of patience; and that question can be solved 
but in one way. 

Let us remember the great quality of the Roman people — unfaltering firm- 
ness in disaster. With their example before our eyes, if we resolve never to 
make peace till crowned with the laurels of victory, we shall assuredly win, 
and wear for generations the crown of empire. 

Sincerely your obedient servant, 

H. WINTER DAVIS. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., Secretary, ^c. 



LETTER OF THE HON, JOHN K. PORTER. 

Albany, April 10, 1863. 

Mt dear Sir : Until this morning, I had hoped to be able to take part in the 
inaugural meeting of the Loyal National League, but I am detained by en- 
gagements which cannot be deferred. 

The occasion will be historical. It will be associated with great events. It 
will infuse needed strength into the councils of the government. It will nerve 
with new vigor those who, with calm and dauntless courage, are perilling their 
lives, on the sea and on the land, in the public defence. It will dispel the illu- 
sion which has upheld a sinking rebellion, that Northern party lines could be 
converted into lines of division between treason and loyalty. 

Administrations rise and fall on questions of political ascendency ; but the 
fiat of the popular will, which is the strength and the law of a republic, is, that 
the government shall stand; and that, in the free states of the North, treason 
shall find no party in which it can claim a home. 

The Loyal National League will proclaim to-morrow the united purpose of 
a free people to maintain the Constitution and the laws. This announcement 
will be appropriately made from the democratic tfity of New York, in which 
George Washington took his inauguration oath to " preserve,"protect, and defend 
the Constitution of the United States" — the city in which a high public func- 
tionary of the nation, now building and equipping pirate ships to burn and sink 
unarmed American mercihantmen, recently received private proposals from 
Northern traitors for a league between them and England, to make common 
cause in subverting the " Constitution as it is," and dismembering " the Union 
as it was." 

Very respeetfully yours, 

JOHN K. PORTER. 

John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., Secretary, ifc. 



LETTER OF HON J. G. POTTS, OF NEW JERSEY. 

Trenton, April 6,^1863. 

Dear Sir : I am in the receipt of your kind favor of the 3d, and would gladly 
accept the invitation extended to me but for engagements which I cannot well 
dispense with. 

In your contemplated gathering of loyal men my heart will be with you ; 
and, depend upon it, so will the heart of New Jersey, notwithstanding 
the bastard peace resolutions of her late mis-representatives. The people of 



63 

this state will never be outdone in devotion to the Union while Princeton, 
and Monmouth, and Trenton, lie within her borders. 

With great respect, very truly, 
John Austin Stevens, Esq. J. G. POTTS. 



LETTER OF HON. H. M. EICE, OF MINNESOTA. 

Washington, D. C, April 8, 1863. 

Dear Sir : I cannot be with you on the 11th instant. The present war may 
lij,st as long as slavery is a recognized American Institution, or until it shall 
be so modified, as to partake of the benefits of civilization and Christianity, with 
a view to its ultimate extinction. Slavery is the cause of the continued strife : 
the cause must be removed, or the disease will extend to every exti-eme of the 
Union, and in the end prove its ruin. A long war is better than a short peace 
— better for both sections — and yet, the sooner it is closed, the more quickly 
will the anvil, the plow, and the loom, respond to the happy songs of the work- 
men throughout the entire land. Hence the necessity of a united North. Our 
forefathers formed a league for the defence of liberty — the South have formed 
a league in defence of human slavery. Are we of the North less brave, less 
patriotic than our forefathers ? 

Why can we not lay aside party, petty fault-findings, and unite as one man, 
until the honor of our country, liberty, and the names of our fathers, shall 
have been vindicated ? The South were traitors to the Constitution, the coun- 
try, and the Democratic Party, and now persistently insult those who, for 
years, fought solely in their defence. Yet they find in the North democratic 
sympathizers! Who can forget how they left us — cowardly left us — without 
any feeling of gratitude for the past, or hope of a future reunion ? Prior to 
their saying good-by, they were informed that the democracy of the North 
were not discouraged ; but if they would remain, that the fight should be re- 
newed with increased vigor. They could well smile at this simple yet generous 
proposition, for their own full, fat ranks showed that they had not suifered ; but 
the careworn, thinned Northern wing told but too well who had met the shock 
of our political foes. And yet democrats can be found, doling out their sick- 
ening sympathy for the success of their unholy cause. Those . of the South 
have frequently said that they will listen to no compromise, short of a recogni- 
tion of their independence; this being true, a peace democrat is a disunionist,for 
the South ivill have no peace short of disunion, unless compelled by force of arms 
to abandon her present position. 

Those in power have erred, will again err ; but because a pilot occasionally 
misses the points of the compass, shall we scuttle the ship ? 

The administration may not confer any civil appointments upon democrats ; 
what then ? It gives the democracy the greater opportunity for showing its 
patriotism — its love of country — of liberty. Ever since the republican party 
came into existence, it has, until recently stood patiently out in the cold, even 
beyond the crumb boundary, while the democratic party for years waxed fat 
upon the good of the land. Now that the tables have been partially turned, 
can we not show a little patient modesty until we shall again be triumphant ? 

End the rebellion — make war upon the western mountains, cause them to 
throw out their untold and countless millions of hidden treasures — open up to 
seed the great prairies of the West — develop the manufacturing wealth of the 
country — spot every sea with American sails as thick as snow-flakes — Civiliza- 
tion and Christianity will do the rest, even to the making of a proper disposition 
of the African. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

HENRY M. RICE. 

Hon. Mr. Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Union League Association, 
New York City. 



64 



LETTER OF THE HON. THOS. CARNEY, OP KANSAS. 

AsTOR House, N. Y., April 10, 1863. 

My dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 
8th inst., inviting me to address my fellow-citizens of New York, at the great 
mass meeting to be held at Union Square on the 11th inst. — the anniversary of 
the attack upon Fort Sumter. I regret that my official duties will uot permit 
me to be present upon that occasion. 

It is a source of pride to me to know that the young state which I have the 
honor to represent, is not excelled by any of her elder sisters in devotion to 
the Union, and in her contributions to the noble work of perpetuating it un- 
impaired. Kansas has been tried in the furnace of affliction, and has come forth 
purified and ennobled. It cannot be forgotten that while we were poor in purse 
we were strong in the earnest determination of oar people, and in the ready 
and unyielding courage of our soldiery. Unappalled by the spectre of con- 
scription, we have furnished more than double our quota of troops under all the 
calls of the President, and are still ready, should occasion demand, to make 
renewed sacrifices for the holy purpose of subduing rebellion and re-establish- 
ing the government upon an enduring basis. 

And with becoming modesty I claim that the services which Kansas troops 
have rendered to the country in this time of her trial, entitle them to the grate- 
ful remembrance of every loyal citizen. They have shed their blood on more 
than twenty battle-fields, and have met and beaten their enemy in more than 
half a dozen states. 

But where all have done so nobly it may seem invidious to particularize. 
The sentiment of the loyal North is undivided as to the necessity of putting 
down this wicked rebellion, and the determination to accomplish that purpose 
speedily and eflectually. The elements which compose the Loyal National 
League well illusti-ate the fact that no differences of political opinion will be 
allowed to retard the great Avork, upon the successful completion of which de- 
pends the existence, prosperity, and perpetuity of the government. 

I do not allow myself to doubt the result. The hour of final triumph may 
not be as near at hand as we now anticipate; still further reverses may attend 
our arras. But I confidently believe that, as well through disaster as through 
victory, the great North will push steadily onward, to the eventual destruction 
of rebellion, and the restored unity of all the states. 

Two 3'ears ago the rebels inaugurated this gigantic conflict by the attack 
upon, and subsequent reduction of Fort Sumter. To-day that stronghold and 
the city which it guards are invested by a powerful and well-appointed fleet 
and army. God grant that before the second anniversary of the fall of Sum- 
ter passes, we may receive intelligence that it is again under the control of the 
federal government, and that Charleston has received the merited punishment 
of its long-nursed and virulent treason.. 

Thanking you for your kind invitation, I have the honor to reniain, with the 
highest consideration, 

Very respectfully, your ob't servant. 

THOS. CARNEY. 
Jno. Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., Chairman, j-c. 



55 

LETTER FROM THE HON. JAS. Y. SMITH, OF RHODE ISLAND. 

Providence, April 8, 1863. 

My Dear Sir: I have the pleasure of your letter of 4th inst., mviting me 
to address the mass meetiug called for the 11th inst., on Union Square, to 
inaugurate the Loyal National League. 

I regret that my engagements will prevent my participating with our 
brothers on an occasion of such deep national interest and the aniversary of an 
event which marked an epoch in the history of our government. May the in- 
terest of the meeting be intensified by the knowledge that our flag again 
waves over Sumter, and that Charleston is now in possession of loj'al men. 

I trust the response of Connecticut to the greeting of our Loyal League may 
be continued from state to state until but one sentiment shall prevail from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific — unity and fraternity. 

For the interest expressed so cordially in our success in Rhode Island, accept 
my thanks. 

Very truly yours, 

JAMES Y. SxMITH. 

John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., of Committee, j-c. 



LETTER OF MR. R. H. DANA, JR. 

Boston, April 8, 1863. 

My dear Sir : A loyal man must give a good reason for not attending the 
mass meeting of the Loyal National League next Saturday, at which you have 
honored me with an invitation to speak. 

I trust mine will be considered suiBcient. I am officially engaged in the 
trial of an American citizen for being engaged in fitting out, from a New Eng- 
land port, a slaver. 

Every slave-trader is an enemy of the cause which the Loyal League is or- 
ganized to maintain. , 

His instincts and interests lead him to sympathize with an empire whose cor- 
ner-stone is slavery. He is willing that that power shall rule the whole re- 
public ; and, if that cannot be, he is willing to give them half of it for their em- 
pire. It is such purposes we must contend against. 

Believe me, 

With great sympathy, 

Yours truly, 

R. H. DANA, Jr. 
John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq. 



LETTER OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 

Boston, April 4th, 1863. 

Dear Sir : I am, as all of us arc, heart and soul with you in the great na- 
tional movement, which will carry with it every true voice and arm of the 
loyal North, and many a true heart, throbbing for the hour of delivery, in the 
grasp of Southern traitors and tyrants. All success to the meeting in your spa- 



56 

cious park, none too ample for the multitudes who will throng its gates, a pal- 
ace as it stands, with heaven for its roof. May spring carpet its floor with soft- 
est green, and tint its ceiling with purest blue, for this auspicious festival ! 

Union Square, sprinkled fi-om the font of patriotism when it received its 
name, is to be rebaptized by immersion in the same sacred waters. In their 
depths let us bury all that can divide the true lovers of a common country, so 
that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, shall ever separate them from each other. Henceforth let 
us call all men brothers save those who have sold their birthright for wealth 
or power, and those who lack manhood to defend their nation against the bayo- 
net thrust at her bosom and the stroke of the poison-fang at her heel. 

Like many others who would gladly be with you, I shall be compelled to 
forego that high privilege. But the shouts in Union Square will be heard on 
Boston Common ; the old grasshopper on Faneuil Hall will wheel round to 
the southwest to listen for them; our narrow streets will not have room 
enough for their echoes j Massachusetts will ring with them ; Rhode Island, 
the Lilliputian bride of Liberty, resplendent in the white robe and the proud 
jewels of her fresh espousals, will stand on tiptoe to catch the sound ; New 
England will thrill through and through with it, the wide North will be all alive 
with it ; and the west wind will carry it over the prairies, over the sierras, to 
the far shore fringed with the gold of sunset. 

With many regrets that I cannot add my voice to the voices of the thousands 
that will swell the great shout for Union, which means national salvation, and 
glory, and honor, and immortality, 

I am yours, very truly, 

0. W. HOLMES. 

John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., 

For Committee of Loyal National League. 



LETTER OP MR. CHAS. ELIOT NORTON, OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Cambridge, Mass., 7th April, 1863. 

Sir : I have had the honor of receiving an invitation to attend the meeting 
of the loyal National League in New York, on the anriiversaryof the bombard- 
ment of Fort Sumter. I regret that I am unable to accept it, for it would af- 
ford me the heartiest pleasure to take part in a mass meeting certain to have 
such wide influence, the object of which is to declare that " the unity of this 
nation shall not be impaired, either in principle or territorial boundary." 

For the love of the Union, on the part of the loyal people of the North, is no 
blind passion ; nor is it a sentimental afi"ection for an ideal Union as it was. 
It springs from no lust of dominion or pride in territorial extent, but it is a 
deep and abiding sense that the territorial integrity of the nation must be pre- 
served, in order to maintain free institutions. It is the reverence for justice 
and the love of liberty which inspire the love of the Union. In maintaining 
territorial unity, the people mean to secure a more perfect unity of principle 
throughout the nation than has heretofore existed. They mean, that supersti- 
tious regard for the letter of the Constitution shall not be allowed to interfere 
with the influence and authority of its spirit. They mean, that is, " to form a 
more perfect union, to establish justice, to promote the general welfare and to 
secure the blessings of liberty," for all men North and South. 
I have the honor to be, 

sir, your obedient servant, 

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON. 

James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Sec''y of the Loyal National League, N. Y. 



57 

LETTER OF WM. CURTIS NOYES, ESQ. 

New York, April 10, 1863. 

My dear Sir': My absence at Albany, attending the Court of Appeals, has 
prevented an answer to the kind invitation of the Loyal National League, to 
address the mass meeting to be held to-morrow at Union Square. I cordially 
approve of the movement, and sympathize fully in its object : but a severe cold 
under which I am now suffering will prevent my speaking in the open air, and I 
must therefore decline the opportunity, which I would otherwise gladly embrace, 
of again bearing my public testimony to the wickedness of the war into which 
the country has been plunged by the " slave oligarchy" — to the necessity of 
prosecuting it to a successful peace with all the men and treasure of the North — 
and to our fixed determination never to end it until the Union is restored, the 
integrity of the territory of the United States preserved, and our national flag 
everywhere respected and honored. 

Very respectfully. 

Your friend and servant, 

WM. CURTIS NOYES. 
J. A. Roosevelt, 

Secretary of the Loyal National League. 



LETTER OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, ESQ. 

DoBBs' Ferry, April 10, 1863. 

To the Loyal National League : 

Gentlemen : In reply to your very flattering invitation to address a mass 
meeting at Union Square, on the 11th instant, I must express my regret that I am 
admonished by my advanced age not to attempt to address our fellow-citizens of 
New York on that occasion in the open air, and particularly that I shall thus be 
deprived of the opportunity oixmiting with the loyal and patriotic men who will 
be asseml)led there, in the renewal, in the most solemn and public manner, of my 
pledge of unconditional loyalty to the government of the United States — to an 
unwavering support of its efforts to suppress this wicked rebellion— and that I 
will spare no endeavor to maintain unimpaired ihe national unity, in principle 
and territorial boundary. I, however, avail myself of your invitation to ex- 
press my views appropriate to the occasion and to the condition of our country. 

I have never faltered in my confidence that the people of the loyal states, 
worthy of their free institutions and of their glorious country, would sacrifice 
all party feelings and prejudices, and would devote their property and 
lives, if required, to preserve the national life. At the same_ time, the painful 
admission must be made, that there are»^many men in our midst, of education, 
and who hold high official positions, who are so utterly lost to all senseof 
duty to their country, that they are imperilling its highest interest to gratify 
their party feelings and lust of power ; there are again others, who, without 
being disloyal, are so ignorant of their duties as citizens, or so much deceived 
by false and wicked teachers, as to be recreant citizens. To this last class I 
particularly address these remarks — the former must be left to that condemna- 
tion by the people, which will, sooner or later, overtake and crush them; they 
are a desperate faction, by which, in the language of Mr. Madison, '_' I under- 
stand to be a number of citizens who are united by some common impulse of 
passion or interest adverse to the permanent and aggregate interests of the 
community." The history of our country in regard to all men and parties 
who endeavor to embarrass the government^ when the country is in a condi- 
tion of war, is most emphatic. " Experience is the oracle of truth ; and when 
its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred." Their 
fate will be a stern lesson for future generations. 



58 

I proceed to endeavor to awaken the ignorant or deluded class, to a sense of 
their public duties, by presenting to them the following views : 

The fundamental condition of every free political association, call it a state 
or nation, is, that every member thereof, is bound to give his property, and his 
life, if necessary, to protect and defend the association, and at all times to do 
all in his power to promote the true interests thereof. This is an axiomatic 
truth, which cannot be denied. 

A correlative obligation is, that the state or nation is bound to protect every 
member of the association, in the enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and the 
pursuit of happiness. 

A necessary result from this fundamental condition is, that every member of 
the association, state, or nation, pledges his faith and honor to every other mem- 
ber, that in good faith he will, when called to do so, give his property and 
hazard his life to defend and protect the association, state, or nation, of which 
he is a member or citizen. 

This last pledge is the great Bond of Union ; it results necessarily from the 
fundamental condition ; and proceeds from each individual to every other as a 
condition of their being members of the association or citizens of the state or 
nation. This is the foundation of Loyalty, which belongs to all conditions in 
life, civil and political. It requires all to be " true to plighted faith and duty, 
in business and in their social relations as well as to the state." In free gov- 
ernments all are citizens, and all who are true and loyal to their obligations 
are Fe//oro-citizcns, because they are in fellowship each with the others, on 
equal and kindly terms. " Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of 
darkness." (I]ph. V.) 

The government which may be formed by the association, and ordained and 
established by the people, is the instrument by which the duties of the citi- 
zens of the state or nation are called into action and directed, and its en- 
ergies controlled. When such government is established, all the members of 
the association have become citizens of a state or nation, and owe it allegiance. 
Natural allegiance arises from birth. Express allegiance is that obligation 
which proceeds from an oath of allegiance. Every citizen by adoption is thus 
bound to obedience to the nation. 

One of the highest and most imperative duties of a citizen, is to obey the 
laws. This duty results as well from his obligation of allegiance as from his 
pledge of loyalty to each and every of his fellow-citizens, for the reason 
that when the government was formed and established by the people, they 
each and all to one and the other agreed to obey its laws. 

From these great truths there results this inevitable consequence : When a 
citizen of the state, from selfishness, from dissatisfaction, from cowardice, or 
any other influences, avoids or refuses to perform his duty in sustaining his 
government in war, or denies the full force of these obligations, he must be 
held to be guilty of treachery, not only to the state, but to every citizen 
thereof. > 

The truth of this position will be admitted by all but base men, who are ca- 

f>able of disloyalty to their associates in business, or to their other social re- 
ations. 

From these axioms we proceed to consider the actual condition of the coun- 
try and the relation of each and all the citizens thereto. 

The government of the United States has declared, through all its depart- 
ments, that we are in a condition of civil war. 

Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, in a letter to Mr. Adams, of June 8, 1861, 
says : " The government insists, as all the world might know, that it must and 
would, under all circumstances, insist on the integrit}' of the Union as the chief 
element of national life : since, after trials of every form of forbearance and 
conciliation, it has been rendered certain and apparent that this paramount 
and vital object can be saved only by an acceptance of civil war as an indis- 
pensable condition. That condition, with all its hazards and deplorable evils, 



59 

has not been declined. The acceptance, however, is attended with a strong 
desire and a fixed purpose that the war shall be as short and accompanied with 
as little suffering as possible." 

Vattel says: "A civil war breaks the bands of society and government, or, 
at least, suspends their force and effect ; it produces in the nation two inde- 
pendent parties, who consider each other as enemies.'' * * * "They stand, 
therefore, in precisely the same predicament as two nations who engage in a 
contest, and being unable to come to an agreement, have recourse to arms." 

The United States and the people thereof are engaged in a war. The 
" Union which is the chief element of the national life ''' is at stake. The govern- 
ment, and the people of the state of Neiv York are parties to this war. They 
have furnished money and soldiers to aid the national government in carrying 
on the war. 

The people of this state, as well by their allegiance to the national as to the 
state government, are bound by all the ties which are respected by true men, 
to support the war at any sacrifice of property or life. 

The legislative and executive departments of the government of the United 
States have established the policy necessary to carry on this Avar, and all the 
citizens of the state or nation are bound to sustain this policy, although they 
may not consider it the wisest, because it is the legally established policy. 
"The power to make laws" # # * "maybe defined to be the power of 
prescribing rules binding upon all persons or things over which the nation has 
jurisdiction ; it acts compulsorily upon all persons." * * ^ "A law of 
the land till revoked or annulled by the competent authority, is binding not less 
on each branch or department of the government than on each individual of 
the society." (Hamilton.) 

From all this it is clear, that all those men, of this or any other state, who 
refuse with head and hand to support the government of the state or of 
the United States, in conquering that most inveterate and malignant^ enemy, 
are false to each and to all their loyal fellow-citizens — to the original con- 
dition upon which the state and nation were formed; are false to both govern- 
ments, and being unworthy members should be driven out of the country, or if 
not so, should be shunned as moral traitors. 

Citizens of this state have not the poor excuse of the secessionists, of being 
bound by their state allegiance. Citizens by adoption have no allegiance 
whatever to any particufar state. Their rights are conferred by the United 
States, and their oath of allegiance binds them to that government. 

To cavil about the wisdom of the established policy — to instigate popular 
hostility to the laws enacted in order to raise money or men to carry on the 
war — are at best unavailing, and are, most generally, a cloak to cover a base 
sympathy with the designs of the public enemy. But, above all, in abject de- 
basement must those " democratic leaders " be held, who sought interviews 
with Lord Lyons, the representative of a foreign power, in order to induce 
"Foreign mediation between the N(/rth and the South." 

The determined energy of the enemy presents but one issue to this war — 
victory or death to one party or the other. 

Let the men who are now laboring to paralyze the arm of the government — 
to disorganize the army — to defeat the efforts of the government to fill up its 
ranks, and thus to expose them to defeat by overwhelming numbers — prevail 
in their evil designs. How long will it be before Washington will be taken, 
and the wealth of Philadelphia and New York reward the successful advance 
of a malignant soldiery ? We rest in security only as long as we have an army 
competent to meet and repel the enemy. 

The skill and energy of government, sustained by the devotion, endurance, 
and bravery of the people of the loyal states, must give the victory to the right. 
Of this there cannot be a doubt. 

But, after the conquest of their armies— the invasion of the states in rebellion 
— what then ? A dogged and obstinate resistance — not in arms, but through 
the power of their state governments to the authority of the United States — 



60 

will preraiL The fiitare of oar country after the war will call for all the wis- 
dom and energy of oar government A stem necessity may require the estab- 
tishmcnt of territorial governments — perhaps to continue during the present 
generation. 

It is not within the reach of hope, much les of belief that the aristocracy, 
who made this war. the fruit of a conspiracy existing for years, involving fraud 
and perjury, will be capable, if even willing, to unite in cordial brotherhood 
with a people whom they despise and hate, and who have compelled them to 
sobmit to the humiliation of conquest. 

As a conquered people, they must receive the law from the conqueror. 
What that shaU be, most be dictated by future erents. In clbsing. we add, that 
" a nation is never to regulate its conduct by remote possibilities or mere contin- 
^^leiea, but by such probabilities as may be reasonably inferred &om the ez- 
"^ ^ eomse of things and the usual course of human nature." 
Tour obedient eerrant, 

JA31ES A. HAMILTOy. 



FROM CAPT. CORXELIUS CURTIS, OF KEY WEST, FLORIDA. 

Rooms Lot*!. Xatiosal Leigce, ) 
April, 8, 1863. J 

DtijR Sib : Tour kind inritation to be present at the grand rally of Sumter 
&me on Saturday next, would be cheerfully complied with, but for the necessity 
of my departure home, the extreme southern limits of our habitable country. 

I regret greatlj the neeeseity, for I should then say more than I can now 
write, thon^ I must inform you that at Key West, on die last of Ff-bmary, was 
inaugurated a Loyal League, of whose existence you and the pubhc would have 
been informed, but for the snppresaon of a loyal paper by a military command- 
er, whoee sentimentB eoineided with other officiab, friends to traitors and reb- 
els. Need I say that elarery is the lump which leavens the whole batch ? 

May it forercr be done away with ! 

Very respectfully, your oVt servant 

CORXELICS CURTIS. 



LETTERpF HENRY W. ROGERS,. ESQ. 

BcFFALO, April 9, 1^3. 

Gtmtlyxzm : Permit me to tiiank jon for your favor of the 4th, inviting me 
to ^eak at the mass meeting called for %be 11th inst., in your city, for the 
purpoae irf^iAaagarating the Loyal National League. 

I am ignorant — and unpordooably so, no doubt — as to the precUe object of 
Ihe League. Bat if as its title imports, it is intended to subserve the interests 
oiVijaitj aad naion-— if it intoida. by its effi>rts, to strengthen the administra- 
tion in its attempte to pot down t^ rebeUion — (o encourage our brave troops 
BOW ia the field—Co eountoiaiiee loyalty ererjwhere, and to rebuke and igno- 
minioasly poaiA treason whererer foimd, whether in the states that have se- 
enied or in Indtaaa, Connecticut, or New York — steering above all mere party 
piditiea — it will not onfy hare my sympatic, bat my cordial and hearty eup- 
porfc. 

I win not doabt^ firom tiie faog^ ehara/;ter of die gentlemen eng^^ed in it, 
tihat diis is its only aim aad porpose ; and I only regret that prior engage- 
Bieats nnut pgere n t niy aeeepCaaee of your invitation. 

Jm coaehnoB, if tfaoe naut be a politieal party during the eontinuance of 



61 



this war for the preservation of the government, let it be known as the Anti- 
reMhon Parti/ : and let all those w ho cannot sympathize with it be known 
and designated as Rchds. This will narrow controversy down to within rea- 
sonable (and, a* I think, just) limits. 

I am. gentlemen, very respectfully yours, 

HEXRT W. ROGERS. 

John Austin Stevens, Esq., and others, 

CommitUe, fc. 



LETTER OF MR. JOHX G, WHITTIER. 

AMESBrRT. OTH 4th Moxth, 1S63. 

Dear Sir : I am sorry that, owing to illness, I am compelled to avoid writ- 
ing, except at rare intervals. The song you ask for I could not give you in 
seaiion for your occasion. 

Your example is being followed all over the country — gaiherin? up and com- 
bining the hitherto scattered ami divided loyalty of the North. We must sink 
party (in the old acceptation of the term) out of sight, and make fidelity to 
" Liberty and Union" the only test. 

It is of small consequence who have the otHcc^. so that the country is saved. 

Thanking you for thinking of me in connection with your meetinir, and with 
the heartiest wishes for its success, 

I am, very truly, itc, 

JOnX G. WHITTIER. 
-JoHX A. Stevens, Esq. 



COXNECTICUT— «T0 THE LOYAL XATIOXAL LEAGUE." 

The Loyal "VTomen's League of Bridgeport, in Connecticut, the state where 
loyalty h;xs won its latest triumph. - sends greeting" to the Loy:il Xational 
League, and pledges to it t-uch a co-operation as women may eivein this hour 
of our country's peril. 

In behalf of the League, 

(Signed) ^ MRS. S. S. CLAPP. Prcshknt, 

MRS. MATSOX M. SMITH, of Ex. Cofiu 
Bridgeport, April 10, 1S63. 



" MASSACHUSETTS • 



TO THE LOYAL XATIOXAL LEAGUE, 
XEW YORK. 



Salem, April ?, 1S63. 
The Salem Union League sends greeting to the 

'■ Loyal Xational League of Xkw York." 

As Salem was the first to carry the flag to the fivrthest corners of the eastern 
continent, so in this western world she will be the Last to surrender it. 
It must float again over " Sumter," never more to be stricken down. 

In behalf of the Salem Union League. 

GEO. W. BRIGGS, 
Jos. H. "Webb. Rcc. S(c\, S. T. PresidtnL 



62 

LETTER FIIOM THE UNION LEAGUE OF THE. CITY OF ROCHESTER. 

Sons of Washington, Union League Headquarters, 
Barracks No. 1, Rochester, N. Y., April 9, 1803. 

To the Loyal National League, New York City : 

Brethren : We cheerfully respond to your invitation to send delegates to 
your Great Loyal Union Meeting. You may be assured that Rochester and 
old Monroe will never be found wanting in any emergency in which an appeal 
may be made to their loyalty and patriotism. In these respects we claim en- 
tire equality, at least, with any county in the Empire State. We look with 
pride upon the fact, that, during the gloomiest period of the rebellion, we 
flinched not from the performance of our entire duty. Wo furnished an excess 
of volunteers of more than two hundred over and above the required quota, 
and in this respect stand preeminent in the state. Our "Gallant Thirteenth" 
distingnished itself in the first battle of the war, before Washington and Ma- 
nassas, and its tattered flag has through many a sanguinary conflict nobly 
braved " the battle and the breeze." Under the second call, we sent two com- 
plete regiments of infantry, several batteries of artillery, and a large force of 
cavalry and sharpshooters, exceeding our quota by two hundred eftectiye men, 
more than any other county in the state. Have we not a right to cjaim that 
" Old Monroe '' is loyal ? Here the present Secretary of State enunciated that 
truism of political economy, that free and slave systems cannot coexist, except 
with an " irrepressible conflict,'' — a proposition now sufficiently demonstrated in 
the terrible contest we are waging with tlie supporters of slavery. 

We are proud of our county, and a little vanity maybe excusable. 

Our Union League now comprises a large number of men, all true and loyal, 
devoted to our country, ready, if necessary, to die in her cause, and we are 
rapidly increasing. We tender you our right hand of fellowship, and grasp 
yours with a hearty God bless you. 

May we soon imite in commingling our congratulations over the termina- 
tion of this cruel war, and the establishment of a peace upon the basis of uni- 
versal freedom. 

In fraternal devotion to " The Union, now and for ever, one and insepar- 
able," 

We are truly yours, * 

ROCHESTER UNION LEAGUE. 

JNO. C. CIIUMASERO, President. 
3. H. NELLIS, Recording Secretary. 

We hereby certify, that the following gentlemen, members of Rochester 
Union League, have been duly chosen as delegates by said League, to repre- 
sent them in the meeting of the National Union League of New York City, to 
be held in New York, Saturday, April 11, 186.3. 

DELLON M. DEWEY, 
GEORGE W. PARSONS, 
E. M. SMITH, 
C. D. TRACEY, 
JAMES W. ADAMS. 

JNO. C. CHUMASERO, 

President. 
RccHE3TER, April 9, 1863. 



63 

FROM THE UNION CLUB OF BOSTON. 

Boston, April 9, 1863. 

Dear Sir : As the Seci-etary of the Union Club of this city, I have the 
honor to receive, through you, on the 4th inst., the invitation to attend the 
great mass meeting to be held, on the 11th, in Union Square, extended to the 
Club by the Committee of the Loyal National League of New York; and I 
hastened to lay the same before the Executive Committee of the Club. 

The Committee received it with the most cordial respect; but, after mature 
consideration, directed me to say to you that the Union Club was formed sev- 
eral weeks before the auspicious occasion on wliich your association was so 
brilliantly inaugurated, for the encouragement and dissemination of patriotic 
sentiment and opinion, and the promotion of intercourse of an agreeable char- 
acter among patriotic men of different pursuits in life, but its membership was 
restricted to such as should be specially invited to join it; and one of the pro- 
visions of its Constitution is, that " The Club shall never be called upon nor 
permitted to act in its official or associate capacity as a club, upon any politi- 
cal question or subject," and that, therefore, they are reluctantly compelled 
to decline, on behalf of the Club, your very welcome invitation. 

The Committee also directed me to extend to your Committee and to the 
Loyal National League of New York, the assurance of their highest respect. 

Fully reciprocating the pleasure you express at this renewal of our own 
friendly correspondence, 

I remain, very truly yours, 

CHARLES W. STOREY, 

Secretary. 
To J. Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., 

for the Executive Committee of the 

Loyal National League, New York. 



THE PHILADELPHIA DELEGATION TO THE LATE SUMTER 

MEETING. 

April 11,1863. 
The following gentlemen, among whom will be recognized many names well 
known to the country as eminent in law, commerce, and science, composed the del- 
egation from tlie Loyal League of Philadelphia to the assemblage of the Loyal 
National League at Union Square, on occasion of the Sumter Anniversary, 
April 11, 1863. Never before in our history has New York been honored by 
so distinguished a delegation from our sister city : 

NAMES OF THE DELEGATES. 

Morton McMichacl, Chairman. Cadwallader Biddle, 

Horace Binney, Jr., John Ilanna, 

W. II. Ashurst, Charles Cabot, 

George Whitney, E. C. Markley, 

James L. Claghorn, C. F. Norton, 

George II. Boker, E. Carpenter, 

Hon. J. I. Clark Hare, Caleb H. Needles, 

W. E. JMoorhoad, J. E. Kingley, 

Charles Gilpin, R. S. Scott, 

William II. Kern, W. P. Jenks, 



64 



John Rice, 
John B. Kenney, 
Dr. Wilson C. Swann, 
S. Fisher Corlies, 
W. S. Stewart, 
W. G. Moorhead, 
E. S. Mawson, 
Loyd P. Smith, 
Henry Samuel, 
John A. Murphy, 

A. R. Chambers, 

B. H. Brewster, 
II. C. Carey, 
Charles Gibbons, 
Samuel J. Reeves, 
J. W. Paul, 

S. B. Thomas, 
Stephen Colwell, 
Hon. John P. Verree^ 
Frank Comly, 
J. G. Fell, 
H. Moore, 

B. H. Brown, 
George H. Grossman, 
L. A. Godey, 

Hon. W. D. Kelley, 

C. Smith, 

E. W. Bailey, 
Samuel E. Stokes, 
G. M. Coates, 
Gibson Peacock, 
Daniel Smith, Jr., 
"W. B. Hazletine, 

E. C. Knight, 
James H. Orne, 

F. J. Dreer, 
James Milliken, 
John W. Forney, 
C. Clark, 

C. A. Walborn, 
R. W. Leaming, 



Thomas Birch, 
H. M. Watts, 
J. E. Caldwell, 
W. R. White, 
B. H. Moore, 
E. Mitchell, 
William Struthers, 
Jarvis Slade, 
J. A. Barclay, 
Samuel Slaymaker, 
A. B. Grubb, 
Theo. Adams, 
W. J. Wainwright, 
R. J. Reed, 
William H. Tiers, 
W. N. Rowland, 
James W. Landell, 

E. A. Browning, 
Francis Wells, 
James M. Paul, 
John W. Claghorn, 
Henry Ashhurst, 
Samuel J. White, 
Hon. James M. Scovel, 
H. Dixon, 

Dr. C. S. Wurts, 

Charles Norris, 

Capt. Frailey, U. S. N., 

R. B. Cabeen, 

Rev. J. E. Torrence, 

S. Bradford, 

T. J. Megear, 

R. Carter, 

S. H. Haas, 

F. E. Emhart, 
George Erety, 
John M. Riley, 
Washington Keith 
E. T. Chase, 

S. A. Caldwell, 
T. Sweeny. 



NATIOISTAL SONGS 

ISSUED BY THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, 

ON OCCASION OF THE SUMTER ANNIVERSARY, 
J^:E>TiXXj 11, 1863. 



Albany, April 7, 1863. 

Dear Sir ; I received a letter from John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esq., on the 
fourth instant, requesting me, in behalf of the Committee of the Loyal National 
League, to furnish a song, to be sung at the mass meeting in New York, on the 
11th instant. 

It affords me great pleasure to send the accompanying lines, in response, as 
a humble tribute to the objects of the League. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

ALFRED B. STREET. 
James A. Roosevelt, Esq., 

Secretary/ of the Loyal National League, 



OUK UNION. 



WRITTEN FOE THE GREAT SUMTER MASS MEETING AT UNION SQUARE, APRIL 11, 
1863, AT THE REQUEST OP THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE. 



BY ALFRED B. SJREET. 



Air — Red, White and Blue. 

Our Union, the gift of our fathers ! 

In wrath roars the tempest above'; \ 
The darker and nearer the danger, 

The warmer and closer our love. 
Though bleeding, it never shall perish 

It bows, but not sinks to the blast ; 
Foes rush on in fury to rend it, 

But we will be true to the last. 

Then hail to our Union of pride ! 

Stand guard 'till the tempest is past ! 
We all, in defence of the Union, 

Will rally and fight to the last. 



G6 



Our Union, ordained by Jehovah ! 

Man sets not the fiat aside ; 
As well cleave asunder the welkin. 

As the one mighty system divide. 
The grand Mississippi sounds ever, 

From pine down to palm, the decree ; 
The spindle, the corn, and the cotton, 

One pjcan shout. Union, to thee ! 

Then hail to our Union of pride I 
Stand guard till the tempest is past ! 

We all, in defence of the Union, 
Will rally and fight to the last. 

Our Union ! the lightning of battle, 

First kindled the flame of its shrine ; 
The blood and the tears of our people, 

Have made it forever divine. 
In battle we then will sustain it, 

Will strive till the triumph is won ; 
'Till the states form the realm of the Union, 

As the sky forms the realm of the sun. 

Then hail to our Union of pride ! 

Stand guard till the tempest is past ! 
We all, in defence of the Union, 

Will rally and fight to the last. 



67 



THOSE SEVENTY MEN: 

A TALE OF THE TIMES. 

rOE THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE MEETING, ON THE SUMTEE 
ANNJTVEKSAKY, 1863. 



BY MRS. SAEAH H. BRADFORD. 



WnE^E shall the scene be laid ? 
In some deep forest glade, 
Where streams sweet music made. 

Sparkling and clear ; 
Or 'mid the city's roar, 
Op on the ocean shore. 
Where waves their fury pour ? 

No — no — not there ! 

Shall I recite to-day 
Some famous olden lay^— 
Tale of fierce strife and fray' 

Of other times? 
No — for another theme, 
Grander than all, I deem, 
Fills e'en my nightly dream,' 

Wakens my rhymes. 

Not Oeta's mountain pass, 
Tha^ glorious burial place 
Where fell Leonidas 

And his three hundred ; 
Not that so bravely made 
" Charge of the Light Brigade,",^ 
'Gainst countless hosts arrayed, 

At which all wondered ;| 

Not where, "neath India's sun, 
Valorous deeds wfre done. 
Victories bravely won 

'Gainst bristling barriers— 
Where 'midst the battle's shock, 
Firm as the mountain rock 
Stood noble Ilavclock 

And his brave warriors ; — 

But I've a tale to tell. 
Of fighting long and well, 
'Mid showers of shot and shell, 

'Mid cannon's boom ; 
No tale of olden time. 
None from a foreign clime, | 
But one of deeds sublime, 

Nearer our home ! 



68 



Have you not heard it, then, 
How those brave seventy men, 
Shut up in narrow pen. 

Battled for hfe ? 
While 'round on every hand 
Thousands of foemen stand, 
Sons of one mother land, 

In deadly strife ! 

Batteries right of them. 
Batteries left of them. 
Cannon in front of them, 

Volleyed and thundered ; 
Still those devoted men 
Toiled in each smoke-filled den, 
While e'en their foemen then 

Looked on and wondered. 

Now all the food is gone. 
Help from the land is none, 
And, ere to-morrow's sun 

Dead they must be ! 
Stands the lookout on high, 
Straining his eager eye, 
Oh ! he can not descry 

Help from the sea ! 

Night closes round the place, 
Darkness comes on apace, 
Then comes one cry for grace-— 

" Fire ! — we're on fire !" 
Still pours the deadly shot 
Into the fated spot, 
Rife the flames fierce and hot, 

Higher and higher ! 

Yet does their courage rise. 
Still each his strong arm plies, 
Battling with enemies. 

Battling with fire, 
Ready to do or dare. 
Beady to perish there, 
Watching the flames prepare 

Their funeral pyre ! 

Once did each ptout heart quail, 
Once every cheek turned pale ; 
That Flag, which ne'er did fail, 

Totters at last! 
But, ere to earth it falls, 
One whom no fear appals. 
Darts 'mid the showering balls] 

Straight up the mast — 
(Deed that's been done by few,) 
His steady hand and true 
Bears the Red, White, and Blue, 

Nailing it fast! 



6d 



From Moscow, Xapoleon, 
From Persia, famed Zenophon, 
From Sumter, brave Anderson, 

Forced to retire ! 
Call you it victory, then, 
"WTien those brave seventy men. 
O'erwhelmed by thousands ten, 

Famine and fire, 

Marched to their country's airs : 
Marched "neath the stripes and stars, 
Greeted -svith loud huzzas, 

While the drum beat ? 
These did not meanly fly, 
Proudly their foes they eye — 
Better than victory 

Such a defeat ! 



Brothers, the time may come 
"WTien, 'mid the cannon's boom, 
We to defend our home, 

Must to the fight ! 
Then let our watchword be, 
Honor and bravery, 
Union and Liberty. 

God — AXD THE Right I 



70 



SONG 
FOR THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE. 

, ON THE ANNIVEKSARY OF THE ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER, 
APRIL 11th ,":,1 8 6 3.. 



BY GEORGE n. BOKER. 



When our banner went down, with its ancient renown, 

Betrayed and degraded by treason, 
Did tliey think, as it fell, what a passion would swell 

Our hearts when we asked them the reason ? 

Chorus — Oh ! then, rally, brave men, to the standard again, 
The flag that proclaimed us a nation ; 
We will fight, on its part, while there's life in a heart. 
And then trust to the next generation. 

Although causeless the blow that at Sumter laid low 

That flag, it was seed for the morrow ; 
And a thousand flags flew, for the one that fell true, 

As traitors have found to their sorrow. 

Chorus — Oh ! then, rally, brave men, to the standard again, 
The flag that proclaims us a nation ! 
We will fight, on its part, while there's life in a heart, 
And then trust to the next generation. 

'Twas in flashes of flame it was brought to a shame, 

Till then unrecorded in story ; 
But in flashes as bright it shall rise in our sight. 

And float over Sumter in glory ! 

Chorus — Oh ! then, rally, brave men, to the standard again. 
The flag that proclaims us a nation ! 
We will fight, on its part, while there's life in a heart. 
And then trust to the next generation. ,^, „:" .^. 



71 



o r> E^ 

ON THE DEFENCE OF^FORT SUMTER BY MAJOR (NOW GENERAL) ANDERSON, 

April 11th, 1S61. 

Comi)06ed for,. and Delivered at the Great Loyal NATIONAL^■D^^o^- League Meeting, in 
Union Place, New York, April lltL, 1863. 



BY WILLIAM EOSS WALLACE. 



O, WELL may the Nation -wreathe for him 

Garlands green, and pure, and splendid, 
Who vowed, in the dread night folding dim. 

That its flag should be defended ; 
That should rustle still each radiant fold 

O'er the grave of the dastard Tory,* 
And its eagle answer, as of old. 

To the morning's earliest glory ! 

Not for him to wait for a feeble chief,! 

As he only groaned and trembled, 
"When the traitors round discussed relief. 

While their base, black hearts dissembled. 
Not for him to peril stars that burst 

On a king t '"'ho would freedom smother ; 
For our Anderson's great heart was nursed 

Fy a true Kentucky mother ! 

How the walls of Sumter hailed his form 

Through the night in its martial splendor ! 
How the flag flashed out, like a starlit storm. 

In the hand of its stern defender ! 
And, ! when the morning's torch displayed 

Evefy stripe on the rampart peerless. 
How the baffled traitors shook dismayed 

At the hero striding fearl.ess ! ^ 

Then well may the Nation wreathe for him 

Garlands green, and pure, and splendid, 
Who vowed, in the dread night folding dim, 

That its flag should be defended ! 
So the Constitution keeps its place, 

With the flag still proudly flying ; 
But the Copperheads that attack its base, 

In their own foul slime arc dying ! 



* Charleston, in the Revolution, was full of Tories. 

t Buchanan, then the President. 

i George the Third. 

} The Charleston rebels who, in view of the Buchanan administration's timidity and treaehery, 
never, dreamed that any United States officer would act with such loyal decision, were astonished to see 
Major Anderson, by the aid of a spy-glass, in the early light of that glorious morning, on the ramparts 
of Fort Sumter. 



72 



THE SHIP OF STATE: 

(FROM A POEM BY PROF. LONGFELLOW:) 

Issued by the Loyal National League at the Sumter 3Iass Meeting, April 11, 1803, at 

Union-Square. 



• — Thou, too, Bail on, O Ship of State ! 

Sail on, Union strong and great ! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

We know what Master laid thy keel. 

What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope. 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

'Tis of the wave, and not the rock ; 

'Tis but the flapping of the sail, 

And not a rent made by the gale ! 

In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 

In spite of false lights on the shore, 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 

Our hearts, our hopes, are still with thee ; 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears. 

Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears. 

Are all with thee — are all with thee ! 



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